Reducing Retail Shrinkage: Best CCTV Camera Placement Strategies for Stores

In the retail world, “shrinkage” is the silent profit killer. Whether it’s shoplifting, employee theft, or administrative error, US retailers lose over $100 billion annually to shrinkage.

Many store owners make the mistake of buying cameras and simply sticking them in the corners of the room. This is a waste of money. A thief knows exactly where those cameras are, and more importantly, where they aren’t.

To actually reduce theft and protect your margins, you need a strategic layout. At EagleEye Freight, we design surveillance systems based on “High-Risk Zones.” Here are the 5 critical areas you must cover to stop shrinkage in its tracks.

1. The Entrance: The “Identification Shot”

The biggest mistake retailers make is mounting cameras too high at the entrance. If your camera is 12 feet up, all you will record is the top of a suspect’s baseball cap (or hoodie). That footage is useless to the police.

The Strategy:

• Eye-Level Placement: Place a camera at eye level (about 5-6 feet high) near the door frame. You need a clear, pixel-perfect image of every person’s face as they walk in.
• Public View Monitors (PVM): Install a monitor facing the entrance that shows the customer they are being recorded. This is psychological warfare. Honest customers don’t care, but a shoplifter seeing their own face on a screen often turns around and leaves immediately.
  

2. The Point of Sale (POS): Watching the Cash & The Sweetheart

Statistically, a massive amount of theft happens at the register, and it’s often an “inside job.” This is called “Sweethearting”—when a cashier pretends to scan an item but actually slides it into the bag for a friend or family member without charging.

The Strategy:

• The “Overhead” View: You need a high-resolution (4K) camera mounted directly above the register looking down. It must be sharp enough to read the denomination of bills and see exactly what items are placed in the bag.
• POS Integration: Advanced systems (which we can install) overlay the transaction text (receipt data) onto the video feed. If the video shows a TV leaving, but the text says “Chewing Gum – $1.00,” you have instant proof of theft.
  
  

3. High-Value Aisles: Targeted Protection

You cannot watch every square inch of a store with the same intensity. You need to apply the “80/20 Rule.” Focus your cameras on the 20% of products that account for 80% of theft (liquor, razors, electronics, cosmetics).

The Strategy:

• Aisle End-Caps: Mount cameras at the ends of aisles looking down the length of the shelf.
• Blind Spot Elimination: Thieves look for “tunnels”—aisles where shelving blocks the view from the main ceiling cameras. Ensure your high-value aisles have dedicated coverage that cannot be blocked by a tall display.

4. The Stockroom & Back Door (The Trash Run)

One of the most common employee theft tactics is the “Trash Run.” An employee takes a box of expensive inventory, hides it in a trash bag, takes the “trash” out to the dumpster, and retrieves the goods later (or hands them to an accomplice waiting outside).

The Strategy:

• The Back Door Cam: Every emergency exit and delivery door must have a camera.
• Dumpster Coverage: An exterior camera should cover the dumpster area. If an employee is spending 20 minutes at the dumpster, or if a car pulls up to the dumpster at 2 AM, your system should alert you.
  
  

5. The “Slip and Fall” Defense (Liability)

Shrinkage isn’t just theft; it’s also lawsuits. Fraudulent “slip and fall” claims are a multi-million dollar industry. If a customer claims they slipped on a wet floor and you don’t have video proof that the floor was dry (or that they faked the fall), you will likely have to settle for a large sum.

The Strategy:

Wide-Angle Overview: Use “Fisheye” or 360-degree cameras in the center of open floor plans. These cameras capture everything. Even if they don’t see facial details perfectly, they prove what happened.

Coverage: Ensure main walkways and areas with liquid (beverage coolers, restrooms) are fully covered.

Conclusion: Don’t DIY Your Defense

Buying a cheap camera kit from a big-box store might save you $200 today, but it could cost you thousands in unrecovered theft tomorrow due to poor image quality and bad placement.

Effective retail security requires a professional design that considers lighting, angles, and lens types.

Is your store losing money to invisible theft? At EagleEye Freight, we help US retailers stop the bleeding. Request a Store Security Audit today.