Cameras tracking shoppers: the economics of retail video surveillance

Abstract

We test theories of information asymmetries, search costs, and procedural justice with retail store video surveillance data. We analyze sales data collected from six sporting goods stores in the northeastern region of the United States over the period January 1, 2013 to May 9, 2013. We relate the sales data to an experiment where 3 stores had placebo video surveillance, and 3 stores made use of information learned in the video surveillance starting on March 1, 2013. The data indicate the use of video surveillance enables a substantial increase in total sales per hour, the number of transactions per hour, and the average size of each transaction. We discuss other interesting findings in the data, including but not limited to lower sales among couples and among customers shopping with children.