Security in the retail sector on the rise

LONDON—Across the globe, retail spaces will purchase more physical security measures, such as cameras and EAS (electric article surveillance) systems, and the Americas will be a strong region in the forecast period from 2016 to 2020, according to a July 28 report from research firm Technavio.

“We see the retail sector becoming one of the top three physical security [vertical markets],” Amrita Choudhury, Technavio research analyst, told Security Systems News. The retail market, government and the hospitality industry, will be the largest vertical markets globally, she said.

For the combined Americas region, including North and South America, the market value is “around $2.09 billion for 2016, and by 2020 it's going to be around $2.69 billion, and the CAGR will be 6.38 percent,” Choudhury said. Choudhury couldn't provide data on individual territories, but said, “the U.S. is definitely a big player in this market.”

The Americas made up about 47 percent of the total market in 2015, Choudhury said, and that percentage will drop slightly—down to around 46.3 percent by 2020. The Americas market is still growing, but other regions, such as Asia/Pacific, are growing at a faster rate.

“For 2016, [the global market value] is $4.46 billion, by 2020 it's going to be around $5.8 billion … and the CAGR is approximately 6.67 percent,” Choudhury said.

Key retail end users that are expected to adopt more security technologies include department stores, restaurants, super markets, and a “hyper markets”—stores that carry both merchandise and groceries. Choudhury said that the report segmented end users into these four categories, but doesn't have information about which will grow the most; the report focuses on case studies on these markets.

Technavio looked at specific retail companies that will expand, open new stores and need security. “For example: LIDL, … it's a German grocery store that's planning to open up stores in the U.S. by 2018,” Choudhury said.

Why are these retail properties adopting more security? “We saw that with the expansion of retail stores comes a challenge of shoplifting, there are administrative errors, there are employee thefts inside the organization,” Choudhury said. “Deploying physical security like surveillance really helps to curb these internal issues or external issues.”

Dropping prices for security products, such as high-end cameras, is another factor driving growth in the retail sector, she said.

Some retailers would prefer to use the analog cameras they have, instead purchasing an IP camera, Choudhury said, which could be a challenge for the market.

Choudhury said that video surveillance, electronic article surveillance—or EAS—and video analytics are key technologies in this market growth. “These three are really driving the overall physical security market,” she said.

Thermal cameras are increasing in popularity in all sectors, Choudhury said, and the retail sector is no exception.

Axis, Bosch, Checkpoint, Honeywell, and Tyco are the top five vendors in this market, Choudhury said. Other vendors include AxxonSoft, Hikvision Digital, Panasonic, Salient Systems, Siemens, she said.