The Salco Group Plc has been established for over 140 years as a leading importer. With specialist and professional teams of buyers and designers, the company is wholly committed to bringing together unique collections that reflect the trends of tomorrow.

The company recently decided to expand the business into the retail sector and start dealing directly with the end user. They purchased The Chapel, and Mr Baker started looking for a CCTV system that would allow the company to monitor their stock on the shop floor and capture customer trends for analysis at their head office in Harlow.

Right from the start, installers Eurotech knew that they'd have to offer a cost effective solution that would still provide Salco with an intelligent answer to their requirements. "Offering the Vista equipment helped us pitch at the right level, which was essential as we didn't want to win the installation for just this shop, but for any future shops as well," says Peter Alligan, managing director of Eurotech.

Six Vista PowerDome Lite cameras have been installed in the chapel to monitor staff and customers. Clever programming has been employed to ensure areas containing high value goods receive particular attention. "If someone enters one of these areas, the motion detector is activated and the camera automatically moves from general surveillance to specific surveillance of the person in that area," says Mr Alligan. "This allows us to get the most comprehensive and relevant coverage with a relatively small number of cameras."

Vista suggested the Vi-Count people counter to gather vital intelligence about trends and usage of the store. "This is the first store we've opened and we wanted to ensure that we fully understood the way our customers like to shop," says Mr Baker. "The system allows us to carry out a complete analysis of our customer needs. In other words, we can increase sales through intelligent interpretation of data."

The Vi-Count uses two Vista colour/mono static cameras (VPC132CM) which obtain both 'in' and 'out' counts with an accuracy rate in excess of 95%. Salco then use the Vi-Count software to automatically detail footfall by any time period as well as highlighting trends and comparing figures for different time periods. One of the many charts available shows the rate of people going in and out during a day which can then be used to make informed decisions in areas such as staffing levels, promotional activities and sales.

Mr Baker is pleased with the system that's been developed for The Chapel. "The technology is very impressive. It gives us a powerful tool for analysing customer trends as well as an excellent security system to ensure the safety of our stock. And best of all, all this comes in a package that is so simple to use, you can pick it up immediately.