Stop Shrinkage. Understand Shoppers.
Integrated loss prevention and retail analytics to protect your bottom line while gathering actionable intelligence on customer behavior.
ZEI deploys retail loss-prevention and customer-intelligence systems that pay for themselves through reduced shrinkage and operational insight — POS-correlated video, heat-mapping, ORC defense, and centralized multi-site management. Designed for environments where every pixel and every minute matters to margin.
Technology Partners
A representative retail & commercial environment of the kind ZEI engineers infrastructure for.
What this industry deals with.
- Internal and external shrinkage cutting directly into thin margins
- Organized retail crime (ORC) groups that move across sites
- Self-checkout and "scan and switch" fraud
- Hundreds of sites that must be supportable by a small loss-prevention team
- Customer-experience expectations that prevent visible heavy security
Retail Intelligence
Security systems that pay for themselves through operational insights.
POS Integration
Watch the register.
Overlay receipt text directly onto video feeds to investigate sweet-hearting, void fraud, and cash shortages.
Heat Mapping
Track the foot traffic.
AI cameras analyze customer movement to show you which end-caps and displays get the most attention.
ORC Defense
Stop organized retail crime.
Facial recognition and license plate reading to identify known shoplifters the moment they enter the property.
Multi-Site Management
Control the chain.
Manage video, alarms, and access for hundreds of store locations from a single cloud dashboard.
How this gets applied.
POS-overlay video
Receipt text overlaid on video to investigate sweet-hearting, void fraud, and cash-drawer shortages with searchable transaction-tied clips.
Self-checkout monitoring
AI overlay on self-checkout cameras flagging missed scans, "banana trick," and weight discrepancies in real time for attendant intervention.
Heat-map and dwell analytics
Customer flow analytics for layout optimization, end-cap effectiveness, and queue-length staffing.
ORC and watchlist alerts
License-plate recognition and (where lawful and policy-aligned) facial recognition against banned-individual lists shared across sites.
Systems we typically deploy.
An opinionated, ordered stack — what most retail & commercial engagements include, in priority order.
Video Surveillance
ZEI engineers commercial video surveillance systems built around modern IP cameras, edge AI analytics, and cloud or on-premise video management
Physical AI
ZEI deploys physical AI — computer vision, behavioral analytics, and machine learning — that turns existing camera infrastructure into intelligent sensors
Access Control
ZEI deploys cloud-managed and enterprise access control across single-door deployments and multi-site campuses
Intrusion Alarm
ZEI engineers commercial intrusion detection systems that integrate with video surveillance and access control to verify threats before responders are dispatched
Cloud Infrastructure
ZEI hosts and manages cloud infrastructure for physical security, video, and building systems on AWS, GCP, and Azure
Commercial A/V
ZEI designs and integrates commercial audio-video systems that work the first time and every time after — Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms, distributed audio and digital signage, sound masking, and acoustic treatment, all centrally managed and serviced by our team
Built to the standards that apply.
PCI DSS
Surveillance and access controls around card-present environments.
State biometric privacy laws (BIPA, etc.)
Where applicable, facial-recognition deployments are scoped to comply with state biometric-privacy statutes.
ADA accessibility
Self-checkout and access systems support accessible alternatives.
Retail Formats
Solutions scaled from boutiques to big-box.
Big-Box & Grocery
Managing large footprints and high transaction volumes.
- Self-checkout monitoring
- Loading dock security
- Aisle surveillance
- Public view monitors (PVMs)
- Slip and fall documentation
Luxury & Boutique
Discreet security for high-value merchandise.
- Aesthetic camera designs
- Display case sensors
- VIP arrival alerts
- Covert panic buttons
- After-hours vault security
From the engineering blog.
Background reading our team draws from when designing infrastructure for retail & commercial.
Edge AI Analytics: Moving Intelligence from the Server to the Camera
Edge AI moves video analytics from the data center to the camera itself, cutting bandwidth and latency. Here is when edge wins and when cloud still does.
Why Megapixels Lie: The Truth About Camera Resolution and Forensic Value
Megapixel marketing has run away from the physics that matters. Pixel-on-target, sensor size, and lens quality decide whether footage is actually useful.
Designing the Network Backbone for a 500+ Camera Deployment
Designing a network for a handful of IP cameras is straightforward. Designing one for 500 or more is an entirely different discipline.
Frequently asked.
Does video analytics actually reduce shrinkage?
Can we manage 100+ stores from one dashboard?
How do you handle customer privacy?
Is your hardware NDAA compliant?
Talk to an engineer.
Tell us about your retail & commercial facility and what you're trying to solve. Our engineering team will respond with a system design tailored to your environment.
Request a Quote