ISJ hears exclusively from Clay Cassard, Vice President, Global Enterprise Solutions, Motorola Solutions about retail security during holiday shopping season.
The holiday season has always tested the limits of retail operations. Stores are packed, teams are stretched thin and the pace of business quickens.
In 2025, this intensity is accompanied by a growing concern for safety. More than half of retail workers (57%) reported feeling unsafe heading into last year’s holiday season.
That number is expected to climb as stores face rising theft, smaller staffs and heightened tensions on the floor.
Retailers once viewed the holiday rush as a logistical challenge. Now it is also a matter of safety and security.
New tools, driven by innovation and necessity, are transforming how stores protect their people and customers during the busiest shopping months of the year.
Changing risk landscape
For decades, retailers managed predictable seasonal pressures such as long lines, crowded aisles and the occasional shoplifting attempt.
Those issues still exist, but the risk profile has expanded dramatically. Organised retail crime operations now target multiple stores across regions.
Online coordination allows groups to move quickly, often overwhelming on-site staff.
Industry surveys capture the accounts of retail workers who report having experienced incidents of violence and many say they feel that staffing shortages have made it more difficult to maintain a secure environment.
They say having fewer employees during shifts hinders their ability to monitor potential threats or intervene early – especially when it’s not uncommon for a single associate to now be responsible for tasks that once required three people.
Frontline workers also reported having routinely faced verbal abuse and threats of physical assault. Recent data from the National Retail Federation cite retail establishments as a primary location for customer-related verbal abuse and non-fatal physical assault against workers.
This is a major concern for retailers, who also reported increasing their budgets devoted to violence prevention.
In response to these evolving pressures, retailers are building security infrastructures with a focus on integrated systems predicated on AI assistance to proactively identify and mitigate risks.
These advancements underscore a strategic shift toward unified security platforms for voice, video, data and analytics on a single platform, giving retailers intelligence and tools necessary to help create safer environments for their employees and help secure shopping experiences for their customers.
These connected systems answer the critical question: “What if technology could intervene in real time?” Now, AI-powered cameras do more than just record; they actively detect threats and initiate immediate action.
Integrated radios and communication platforms do more than just broadcast; they automatically alert personnel and dispatch first responders.
This creates a security posture that is fundamentally proactive, enabling rapid, intelligent responses to neutralise situations before they escalate.
Retail security solutions working in harmony
Retail organisations are increasingly adopting integrated security solutions that harness the powers of AI and ecosystem connectivity to yield higher levels of performance out of their security infrastructure.
For example, AI-enabled fixed cameras do more than just record. They can identify unusual patterns like loitering near high-value items and alert security, allowing teams to respond pre-emptively.
This intelligent oversight is increasingly complemented by the on-the-ground perspective that body cameras provide, offering a more complete picture of an unfolding event.
No longer just for law enforcement, body cameras worn by employees provide a clear, first-person record of events.
Their mere presence can help de-escalate tense interactions, making associates feel more secure and deterring potential offenders.
For retail managers, mobile video platforms connected to these cameras offer the ability to view situations remotely, allowing them to support personnel on the floor and coordinate responses quickly.
Another critical tool in this integrated approach is the panic button. Often installed discreetly in areas like cash wraps and stockrooms, a single press can alert security, activate nearby cameras (including body cameras) and share the incident’s location within seconds.
Several states are introducing requirements that accelerate its adoption. In New York, for example, lawmakers passed the Retail Worker Safety Act, which, among other laws, mandates that by 2027, retailers with 500 or more employees provide a silent response button which can be a physical button in the store or a wearable and/or mobile phone-based option for employees.
To enhance environmental awareness within retail spaces, some retailers look to smart sensor technology like that provided by the HALO Smart Sensor.
This intelligent device can detect a range of threats beyond traditional security measures, including changes in air quality due to vaping or smoke, occupancy levels and it can detect emergency words and unusual noises like gunshots.
When a threat is detected, the HALO sensor can automatically trigger alerts through the security system, notifying staff on their communication devices, which offers an added layer of protection.
What’s ahead for retail safety
The era of siloed security systems is rapidly coming to an end.
The future lies in the integration of various security components, including video security, access control, alarm systems and employee communication devices and turning them into single, unified platforms.
This holistic approach will provide retailers with comprehensive, real-time views of their entire operations from a centralised security command center.
This integration will foster faster, more coordinated responses to incidents.
For example, an AI-detected suspicious event could automatically trigger alerts to security staff via their mobile devices, lock down specific areas and provide live video feeds to law enforcement, all in a seamless and automated workflow.
This race toward intelligent automation is especially true in large-scale retail, where security professionals often manage a complex web of hundreds of security cameras, doors and specialised devices.
Security operators must divide their attention across multiple screens, leading to data overload, as they manually triage events to distinguish true emergencies from false alarms.
During the holiday rush, when stores are crowded and distractions are constant such time-intensive coordination could yield costly consequences.
The next wave of technology directly addresses this challenge with platforms designed to aggregate disparate data streams — from video security, access control and third-party sensors — onto a single screen.
Solutions like Avigilon Inform are at the forefront of this shift, using AI to intelligently group multiple, seemingly separate events into a single, actionable incident.
For example, a series of failed badge swipes at a stockroom could automatically trigger nearby cameras, alert security staff via radio and present the entire event as one unified workflow.
This provides security teams with contextualised, actionable insight rather than just more data, transforming reactive operations into proactive, resilient systems.
These advancements are driving new standards for awareness and responsiveness. No longer must retailers choose between operational efficiency and employee well-being.
Advancements in safety and security technologies are driving faster, more proactive response coordination as well as helping to improve retail workers’ confidence in their safety and customer trust.
These tools are empowering retailers to create more secure shopping environments where help is always within reach and safety is woven into every interaction.
