Established in 1893, Ryman has grown and extended what it sells to include office supplies, technology and office furniture as well as stationery, and a typical store’s inventory has 5,500 different types of products. The company, which is now chaired by Theo Paphitis, one of the UK’s most high profile businessmen, has over 220 stores throughout the UK.

In addition to deterring and detecting shoplifters, Ryman required a solution that could help them better understand the buying patterns of their customers and the effect of advertising and other promotions activities. Ryman also wanted authorised staff such as marketing and merchandising personnel, as well as regional Loss Prevention Managers, to be able to access live or recorded images of any activity at the stores.

Experienced in this field, Devon based Selec Systems was awarded the contract to install the new systems. . “The key to the success of any video surveillance installation if of course the careful selection of the most appropriate cameras,” said Ray Self of Selec Systems. “Hanwha Techwin Europe were ideally placed to support us on this type of intricate project.”

Depending on shape and size of each store and in order to deter, detect and record any incidents of theft, the 51 stores have been equipped with a number of Beyond Series SCV-5083 1280H dome cameras together with a four channel SRD-476D or eight channel SRD-876D DVR.

In addition, a WisenetIII SND-6084 open platform dome camera with the Foxcounter people counting application from Foxstream on board, has also been installed at each store to provide Ryman’s management with an accurate analysis of customer footfall. The SND-6084 supports the Foxcounter application as it features P-Iris which optimises the iris function when multiple lighting conditions exist in a single scene. This results in images with better contrast, clarity, resolution and depth of field, making it easier for Foxcounter to recognise customer flow direction. Plus, with WDR image quality is enhanced and motion blur is reduced, enabling Foxcounter to provide accurate counting data even when several people simultaneously cross the counting area threshold.

A SCP-2270 PTZ dome has also been installed at each store. This enables Ryman’s Loss Prevention Managers and marketing personnel member to remotely view any activity via the Ipolis mobile app. The SCP-2270 PTZ has a 27x optical zoom capability which can provide authorised users with the option to view close up detail of people and objects.  The images captured by the SCP-2270 and SND-6084s are recorded locally onto DVRs via the dome cameras’ analogue outputs.

In order to fulfil the requirements of this project, a bespoke firmware upgrade version of the Ipolis Mobile app was developed specifically for Ryman. The upgrade allows for a large number of sites to be remotely monitored by a smartphone or tablet.

Following the successful completion of the installations at the 51 stores an order has been received to provide a further 132 Ryman stores with the same tailor made solution.

Discussions with the client are at an advanced stage in respect of supplying WisenetIII Open Platform cameras with a number of pre-loaded Applications which, in addition to people counting, will help them identify other opportunities to increase sales and productivity.