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“Solink has been exactly as advertised. We’ve never encountered a moment where we’ve questioned whether we picked the right partner. It’s always worked the way we need it to. ”
- Previous NVR-based security camera system was cumbersome and time consuming to use.
- No way to uncover discount abuse.
- One of the Baesler’s locations had a large shoplifting issue.
- Needed footage can be found in minutes and shared with law enforcement using email right in the Solink platform.
- It’s easy to audit high-risk transactions to see exactly what is happening.
- Off-duty police officers working security carry a tablet with Solink opened, so they can discreetly follow suspicious people while remaining at their post by the front of the store.
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The Client:
Baesler’s Market
Baesler’s Market operates two grocery stores in Indiana. The larger one has 43 security cameras installed, while the other has 14. Marketing Manager Kristine O’Hare discusses their experience with Solink.
Learn how Solink can support your business.
The Challenge:
Build an effective loss prevention system
Like many businesses, Baesler’s had a traditional NVR security camera system. These systems provide some level of deterrence, but when it comes time to find footage they are not up to the task.
“I don’t know what kind of system we had before. It’s one of those systems that are there just because you need something. I do know we went through multiple systems previously and we weren’t happy with any of them.”
Without an effective security camera system, Baesler’s Market was experiencing a serious shoplifting problem in one of their locations. In fact, it was hard to even know exactly how bad the situation was.
"Shoplifting was our main problem, and it turns out the problem was even bigger than we thought. While Solink has been a great solution for a lot of other issues, it was really shoplifting that we needed help with originally.”
In addition to shoplifting, there were some internal theft issues, especially around discount abuse. Since Baesler’s Market extends their employee discounts to the family members living with their staff, it wasn’t easy to see which transactions were legitimate by simply looking at the POS data.
“In addition to shoplifting, we did have some internal issues. It was particularly hard to look into whether our employees were misusing their discounts with only the POS data."
Summary:
- As with many businesses, Baesler’s Market’s previous security system was more “checking the box” on having something than an effective tool for loss prevention and security.
- With a generous employee discount that extends to staff’s entire household, pairing video with transactions is needed to confirm compliance with discount policy.
- Baesler’s Market uses off-duty police officers as security guards, but without remote monitoring they cannot keep an eye on the entire store at once.
Baesler’s Market first became aware of Solink through a recommendation within an operations share group. With that level of social proof, they felt compelled to see what Solink could do and were happy with what they saw.
"My boss is part of an operations share group and someone shared about you. That’s how we learned about Solink. Given that endorsement, we wanted to see what Solink could do and were highly impressed by the platform."
Learn how Solink can support your business.
The Solution:
Give law enforcement the tool they need to stop shoplifting
Solink provides an integrated video analytics and security platform. By automatically pairing video with every transaction from the POS, providing advanced functions like motion search, and allowing users to save and share videos by email within the app, Baesler’s Market can find whatever video footage they need in minutes.
"Solink definitely saves us time. Before, if we needed a video, it took at least an hour to just try and figure out what video we wanted and then find and download it. It was really cumbersome. With Solink, it takes minutes. Even when you don’t know exactly when the incident occurred, motion search finds the footage you need quickly."
Camera Linking is one way Solink is leveraging AI to make security cameras even more useful. For Baesler’s Market, it makes following a suspected shoplifter through the store easy and intuitive.
“On our old system, if you needed to follow somebody through the store, that would have been just terrible, but with Camera Linking it’s very easy in Solink."
Baesler’s Market employs off-duty police officers as security guards. One common conundrum for the officers was whether they should stay at their post at the front of the store or try to discreetly follow a suspicious person through the store. Now, officers are given a tablet with the Solink platform opened. If they see something suspicious, they can follow the person remotely in real time while remaining at their post. This has made them much more effective.
"I’m not saying that we don't still have occasional problems, but it's definitely better than what it was like before Solink. We hire off-duty police officers to work intermittent shifts throughout the week to better protect our store and customers. We’ve started giving them an iPad with the Solink app open. Now, a single guard can monitor both entrances and track suspicious individuals discreetly using our security cameras. Solink allows the police officers to be in two places at once."
While shoplifting was a known issue, discount abuse was less known. Without having video footage paired with POS transaction data, it’s nearly impossible to know whether employees are misusing their discount. This was especially true for Baesler’s Market because employees are allowed to share their discount with all family members in their household.
"We were doing our best to keep track of employee discount usage, but having camera footage tied directly to the transaction has been a game changer and saves us a lot of time. Solink makes it easy to confirm that discounts are being used correctly by showing us on camera what is happening during the transaction."
Overall, Solink has helped significantly reduce the average monthly dollar value of discount usage.
“Total discounting was down about 60% year on year in December. Since a certain amount of discounting is employees legitimately using their discount, discount abuse is down even more.”
The Result:
An improved bottom line and more operational control
Baesler’s Market has seen a lot of ROI from Solink. Most clearly and directly, they have seen noticeable reduction in theft.
"Shoplifting, internal theft, and discount abuse have all decreased. It’s so much easier to review issues after the fact or look into suspicious activity as it is happening live with Solink.”
In fact, according to their CTO, even though Solink has prompted Baesler’s Market to increase their loss prevention budget, overall theft is down so much that it is driving profit.
“Even though we’ve hired more police officers and invested in more cameras, our CTO has told me that the synergy between Solink and security personnel has led to an overall better return on investment. While we’re spending more money on security, it’s preventing even more losses.”
While it’s harder to attribute increased sales to any one thing, it’s easy to believe that less discount abuse and customers feeling more secure in the store has had a positive impact there, too.
“It’s hard to know for sure, but I think Solink is leading to more sales. We have less discounting, of course, and our customers definitely feel safer shopping here than other stores. That has led to a revenue bump of tens of thousands of dollars."
In addition to loss prevention and security, Baesler’s Market has begun to use their security cameras for operational control. The first project was improving the customer experience.
"We have all the cameras showing on a screen in the office. That makes it possible to react to things in real time. If there are long lines, we can call for someone to help at the checkouts. We aren’t walking downstairs to the sales floor and being surprised by what we see anymore."
It’s also possible to review customer interactions and follow-up when there is an issue.
"When a customer has a poor or positive experience with the cashier, you can pull it up on the camera and see exactly what was going on at the time. That’s really shown us some areas where customer service standards needed to be reinforced or commended."
Learn how Solink can support your business.
In Baesler’s Market’s words
"The way Solink makes everything searchable is so valuable. Event search to find transactions is really nice. I also really like that you can single out a certain area for motion on a camera so you don't have to sit and watch the whole thing."
"With Camera Linking, it’s very easy to follow a suspicious person through the store. That’s something missing from other systems."
"Working with the Solink team has been super. You always keep us up to date on what’s happening."
Baesler’s three favorite features
Event Search
Events-Based Search gives you the ability to quickly find events matching your search criteria and then review the paired video. Whether it is access control entries or POS transactions, easily find the events you need to review. Solink pairs video with transaction data from your POS and then overlays the receipt without a text inserter box. Discount abuse, void reports, and other high-risk transactions can be reviewed in minutes to track down theft in your business.
Easy-to-use interface
Solink’s interface makes it easy for anyone to search and find the information they need quickly. Even for less technical staff, it is possible to log in and find a needed video or piece of information with little help or training.
Motion Search
Motion Search eliminates the need to fast forward through hours of video footage. Solink automatically shows you all video clips in an area of interest where there is movement.
Timothy Ware | 
Timothy Ware is Solink’s Content Manager. He brings over ten years of writing and editing experience to the job. When he isn’t writing about security, loss prevention, and asset protection, he’s enjoying his newest board game. His work has appeared on many B2B SaaS websites including Baremetrics, Security Today, TeamPassword, Cova, and SignTime.
