Choosing a People Counting System – How to Pick the Best Solution

Person count is an important metric to track for stores and properties that receive a large amount of foot traffic throughout the day or week.

Having the ability to monitor the number of people entering your business can uncover new operational insights for you to utilize. By analyzing the data from a people counting system, you’ll be able to identify areas of your business that could be streamlined for optimal customer engagement and experience as well as how the physical space of your business is being traveled.

In this article, we’ll cover why people counting is vital to track for your business, as well as how to find the best people counting solution.

Why People Counting is an Important Metric for Businesses to Track

As mentioned earlier, people counting can be one of the best ways to measure the success of your sales initiatives and identify areas of operational inefficiency within your business.

People counting can be an effective measurement for judging the effectiveness of marketing initiatives and campaigns. By analyzing the number of people entering your store alongside the number of purchases you have during a given time, you can come up with a reliable conversion rate. Seeing how many customers are converting (or purchasing) during a sales push can shed light on whether your strategy is working or if a better plan is needed to increase revenue.

People counting is also useful for identifying footfall trends. Surfacing the trends can give you insight into what tend to be the busiest times of the day or week. This data can be instrumental in capitalizing on opportunity lost sales when the location isn’t staffed sufficiently, and by saving labor when times are slower.

These uses can be applied to multiple businesses, whether that’s retail, quick-service restaurants, car dealerships, property management, and more.

Finding the Best Video Security Solution for People Counting

Because people counting is such a beneficial metric for businesses to track, finding the best people counting solution becomes crucial.

Video security systems tend to offer the best features and accuracy when it comes to people counting systems, which is why it’s important to prioritize finding a security system equipped with analytics to identify and track persons.

Below, we’ll cover employee exclusion and heat mapping, two features offered by AI-powered video security that can dramatically boost the accuracy of your people counting system and uncover more useful business intelligence.

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C-Stores Remain Top Crime Target
Theft on the Rise in Convenience Stores

C-stores face rising losses, but innovative strategies can protect margins and staff.

Theft in the retail sector continues to be an existential crisis that has seeped into convenience stores and independent retail stores nationwide. According to the National Retail Federation’s recent report, The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence (2024), the number of shoplifting incidents has surged 93% relative to just five years ago, and dollar losses from shoplifting are up about 90% over the same period.

Moreover, organized retail crime (ORC), those coordinated theft rings that steal with the intent to resell merchandise, has also sharply increased. Incidents tied to ORC rose by 57% year-over-year (2023 to 2024) among retailers who track such crimes. Retailers report that thieves are more aggressive; about 73% report greater verbal or physical aggression in theft events compared to prior years.

If convenience store operators think “that’s more of a big-box problem,” they’re badly mistaken. Smaller stores, especially those in high-traffic or high-theft areas, are being targeted by ORC groups for easily stolen items (snacks, tobacco, over-the-counter medicines, small electronics) that have resale value.

Further, employee theft/internal shrinkage remains a substantial part of retail losses. In aggregate shrink (loss of inventory for all causes), external theft (including ORC and shoplifting) accounts for a large share. Still, employee theft often makes up twenty-some percent of losses in many studies.

So what can you do to protect your stores? Given the rapid and aggressive growth of theft, convenience stores must adopt proactive, multi-layered strategies to protect their margins, staff, and reputation. Here are four ways convenience stores can reduce incidents of theft:

1. Tighten internal controls and employee oversight.
2. Invest in deterrents for external theft.
3. Enhance partnerships and legal/policy support.
4. Protect staff and prioritize safety.

Retail theft, including those targeting convenience stores, is not a problem of “if” but of “how much longer can we tolerate this level of loss.” The sharp growth in shoplifting incidents, dollar losses and the increasing brazenness of ORC, combined with stronger internal theft risks, means business as usual is no longer an option. cstoredecisions.com

Editor's Note: This report highlights what the D&D Daily has long tracked in our exclusive crime reports: convenience stores remain a primary target in retail crime. In fact, C-stores are consistently the top setting for both retail robberies and retail violent fatalities. This reinforces a clear reality — these stores face outsized risks and must adopt multi-layered security strategies to protect employees, customers, and assets.


DOJ's ORC Crackdown
Federal Focus Turns to Organized Retail Crime Rings

By the D&D Daily staff

In recent months, the U.S. Department of Justice has sharpened its focus on organized retail crime (ORC) syndicates — networks that orchestrate large-scale theft of merchandise from retail outlets and resell goods via illicit channels. Once treated as isolated shoplifting, these operations are now viewed as coordinated criminal enterprises that require federal muscle.

ORC, also called Organized Retail Theft (ORT), involves structured groups executing theft across multiple locations, using trafficking and fencing systems to convert stolen goods into cash. The weaponization of online marketplaces has further accelerated their reach: stolen goods can be funneled through e-commerce sites or resale platforms, enabling national and even international operations.

At the federal level, prosecutors are deploying racketeering statutes, coordinated task forces, and cross-jurisdictional partnerships to dismantle these rings. Senate leaders have pressed DOJ to employ the RICO statute to go after the ringleaders rather than just the low-level shoplifters. Meanwhile, legislation such as the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, introduced in 2025, would codify a stronger federal posture by giving law enforcement new tools to tackle retail crime that crosses state lines.

To date, federal and state agencies are making visible strides. In Rhode Island, two men tied to a large-scale theft ring were charged after agents seized tens of thousands of stolen items worth more than $1.6 million. In Pennsylvania, the state’s Organized Retail Crime Unit — staffed with agents and prosecutors — reports improved arrest rates, falling retail theft in key jurisdictions, and aggressive pursuit of both frontline operatives and their back-end fences. And in California, law enforcement recently joined a national ORC blitz that resulted in more than 90 arrests and nearly $153,000 in recovered merchandise, underscoring the need for real-time coordination and intelligence sharing.

That said, challenges remain. Because ORC lacks a uniform legal definition and is often conflated with conventional theft, data collection is murky and prosecution strategies vary from state to state. Still, the DOJ’s intensified posture signals a shift: ORC is no longer being tolerated as “business as usual,” but prosecuted as organized crime. For retailers and loss-prevention teams, this development reinforces what they’ve known — fighting theft now demands high-level strategy, tight collaboration, and pressure both on the street and in the courtroom.


How Will Trump's Actions Impact Big City Crime?
Mayors warn Trump threatens crime drops in majority-Black cities
Violent crime is falling in some majority-Black U.S. communities even as mayors warn that President Trump's cuts to prevention programs and threats of National Guard deployments could reverse the trend.

Why it matters: Drops in violence mark progress in cities long hit hardest by crime, but the Trump administration is using crime rates as a pretext to send troops to expand federal control over blue cities.

Driving the news: Trump announced this month he's sending National Guard troops to Memphis to address the city's crime, prioritizing Democratic-led cities where GOP governors back intervention. He also said he would send them to New Orleans.

The big picture: The nation's violent and property crime rates dropped to a two-decade low in 2024, according to new FBI data, and early 2025 numbers show homicides declining in major cities so far. Despite those trends, Trump has insisted that crime in many Democratic-led cities, like Washington, D.C., and Chicago, is out of control, even as crime also declines in those urban areas.

By the numbers: An Axios analysis of FBI 2024 data and preliminary 2025 numbers shows significant declines in violent crime in some majority-Black communities.

Baltimore, a city where 62% of residents are Black, saw a 23% decline in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, stats compiled by the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed. It's now seeing its lowest homicide rate in 50 years.

Cleveland, a city where 51% of residents are Black, experienced a sharp 28% drop in homicides during that same period.

Memphis, a city where 65% of residents are Black and where the annual homicide rates are among the nation's highest, saw a 13% drop in homicides.

New Orleans, a city of 364,000 people and where 58% of residents are Black, has seen homicides drop by 27%. axios.com


America Is Seeing Less Crime, But People Aren't Feeling It
Crime, violence concerns spike, but data shows country is becoming safer
Concerns over crime and violence spiked in Gallup polling this month, with the public opinion organization noting a particular increase in mentions following Charlie Kirk's assassination on Sept. 10. The Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 2-16 and published Monday.

Mentions of crime or violence more than doubled over the past month, rising from 3% in August to 8% in September, according to Gallup. That’s the highest level since August 2020, and before that, 2002, Gallup said.

The organization also noted that survey respondents might’ve been influenced by the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting or the stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman on a North Carolina train. But Gallup said the survey results suggest that Kirk’s assassination is reverberating with Americans, particularly Republicans.

Mentions of crime or violence increased most sharply among Republicans, rising from 6% to 14%. Meanwhile, Gallup reported a spike in concerns about national unity.

And satisfaction with the nation’s direction also dipped to its lowest level since January. Just 29% said they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. abcnews4.com


Minnesota gun store owner says they didn't see warning signs

DOJ expands access to critical crime data to another New Mexico pueblo
 

Fewest Seasonal Retail Hires Since Financial Crisis Era
Retail’s seasonal hiring could hit lowest point since 2009

Challenger, Gray & Christmas predicts that retailers will bring on fewer than 500,000 employees in Q4, a low last seen following the 2008 financial crisis.

Amid a challenging economic backdrop, retail hiring during the seasonal holiday period could fall to its lowest point since 2009, according to a Wednesday report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shared with Retail Dive.

Challenger projects that retailers could hire fewer than 500,000 positions in the last three months of this year, which would be the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years.

Muted hiring decisions in 2025 would build on 2024’s down year, which Challenger says saw a 4% year-over-year decrease with 543,100 jobs added in Q4.

Though many retailers have started debuting holiday initiatives, many have remained silent on hiring goals so far.

“Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, said in a statement. “While we could see a late hiring push if holiday sales surprise to the upside, the cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge. This year may be more about doing more with less.” retaildive.com


From 'Doom Loop' to 'Boom Loop'?
San Francisco’s boom loop in 15 simple charts

Crime’s down, rents are up, transit’s a mess: The city’s resurgence is more complex than any simple up-or-down narrative suggests.

San Francisco’s comeback is in full swing. That’s the impression you get if you read the cheery headlines on the city’s recovery, double-tap posts on the mayor’s Instagram account, or — you know — go outside.

However, the truth is more complex than any simple up-or-down narrative suggests. That’s why we’re choosing to analyze San Francisco’s condition through cold, hard numbers.

A survey of data on tourism, economic activity, and the real estate market shows the areas that are clearly looking up, as well as those where the spin may be clouding over reality. sfstandard.com