City Beach
Key Metrics:
Reduced investigation times from 1 hour to just 10 minutes – With Verkada’s AI-powered search, City Beach can quickly identify persons of interest based on attributes like clothing.
Improved store security – Enhanced collaboration with local law enforcement, allowing faster identification and prosecution of theft and aggressive incidents using high-quality video footage.
Real-time remote monitoring – Enabled the retail team to monitor multiple stores remotely, improving customer service and maintaining a safe shopping environment without being on-site.
Background
City Beach was founded in 1985 by two mates who saw an opportunity during the height of the surf era. They noticed that most brands were focused solely on hardware, leaving a gap for lifestyle apparel like boardshorts and t-shirts. Born and raised in Queensland, it was only fitting that their first store opened in the heart of Brisbane. Today, City Beach has evolved into one of Australia’s leading lifestyle and fashion retailers, with over 67 locations nationwide, including major cities like Perth, Darwin, Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast
‘At City Beach, we owe our long-standing success to our ability to evolve. Our mission is to be a central hub for youth culture, and our stores reflect this dynamic vision,’ says Ben Nau, Head of Retail, who has been with the company for over 17 years. Nau oversees retail operations and is responsible for implementing new technologies to tackle challenges like loss prevention, store safety, and operational efficiency.
The Challenge
City Beach became increasingly concerned about issues related to store theft, aggressive customer behaviour, and internal theft. Without an effective security camera system, they struggled with incident response, footage retrieval, and collaboration with law enforcement. The legacy camera system was slow, difficult to use, and didn’t offer the image quality needed for police investigations.
‘Shrink has gone through the roof in recent years, with notable increases in theft and violence. We were spending way too much time reviewing footage manually, and the image quality wasn’t good enough for law enforcement to use,’ says Nau, ‘We needed a system with features like remote access, AI-powered search, and clearer video.’
Why Verkada?
After evaluating several options, City Beach chose Verkada for its cloud-based Command platform, which offered the advanced features they needed. The high-resolution cameras, user-friendly mobile app, and AI-powered capabilities allowed City Beach to speed up incident investigations, improve safety, and work more effectively with law enforcement.
‘When I saw Verkada’s capabilities, I was blown away. The ability to search for a person by clothing colour or send footage directly to the police made Verkada a standout solution,’ says Nau. ‘It’s intuitive and works seamlessly across both mobile and desktop devices.’
Deployment of Verkada Solutions
City Beach initially deployed Verkada cameras in their Cockburn store, a location with high shrinkage and frequent incidents. The plug-and-play devices were quickly installed and strategically placed to monitor areas prone to theft.
‘Cockburn averages one significant incident per day, making it the perfect store to demonstrate the impact of upgrading to Verkada,’ Nau adds.
Improved Staff and Customer Safety
Verkada's video security solution with real-time monitoring has significantly improved safety for both staff and customers. The ability to respond quickly to incidents, especially involving aggressive customer behaviour, has made a noticeable difference. Hybrid cloud cameras provide onboard storage of up to 365 days, in addition to unlimited cloud archiving.
‘We now have a zero-tolerance policy towards theft and aggression, and Verkada has made it much easier to hold offenders accountable while ensuring the safety of our stores,’ says Nau.
Remote Monitoring and Enhanced Customer Experience
City Beach’s regional managers can maintain high standards of customer service, even while off-site, using the Command mobile app. The cameras help ensure stores are clean, organised, and properly staffed, improving the overall shopping experience.
‘With Verkada’s Command app, we can access our cameras, monitor device health, and respond in real time, all without needing port-forwarding or VPNs,’ explains Nau. ‘The app’s ease of use has allowed us to stay connected to what’s happening in stores without being there, which helps us deliver the best experience for our customers.’
Improved Collaboration with Law Enforcement
The Verkada system has assisted City Beach in investigations with local law enforcement. Using AI-powered search, they can quickly find incidents by typing a simple query into the search bar matching a suspect’s description (for example: ‘person with blue hat holding a shopping bag’). High-quality footage can be viewed and shared in just a few clicks, leading to faster investigations and successful prosecutions for theft and violence.
‘Once the police saw the quality of our footage and how quickly we could provide it, they began working closely with us. They even gave us a direct line to their station. We now share all incidents with them, from theft to aggressive behaviour,’ says Nau. ‘They’ve also used Verkada footage with facial recognition technology to link suspects to other crimes.’
Data-Driven Decision Making
Through Command, City Beach has actionable retail analytics to identify peak traffic times, optimise store layouts, and improve labour scheduling. The Occupancy Trends feature tracks foot traffic, offering valuable insights into store performance and brand visibility at key storefronts. People Heatmaps overlay colour-coded contours on floor plans, highlighting high-traffic areas and showing how customers move throughout the store. This information helps City Beach understand how different spaces are being utilised, allowing for adjustments in product placement and store layout to maximise customer engagement.
‘Verkada’s system goes beyond security—it’s now a key tool for optimising our operations. We are currently testing its traffic counting functionality, intending to use the data for demand planning,’ Nau explains.
Increased Operational Efficiency
With security managed on a single platform, City Beach can remotely monitor multiple stores and quickly share footage, significantly reducing time spent on manual tasks. From thefts to break-ins, they easily locate incidents across their entire camera fleet with analytics and alerts for motion, people, vehicles, and licence plates. The Incident Management tool empowers teams to organize that footage and document the findings with the same level of ease.
‘Verkada has streamlined our entire security process. What used to take us hours – sifting through footage, downloading files, and sending them to the police – can now be done in minutes, all from a single platform. This has allowed us to spend more time focusing on growing the business rather than managing security manually.’ Nau adds.
Future Plans
City Beach plans to continue expanding Verkada’s solutions across more locations, particularly in stores with high shrinkage or incidents of aggression. They are also testing Verkada’s Person of Interest (POI) alerts and exploring the Helix integration with point-of-sale systems for better insight into suspicious transactions.
‘We’ve started testing the POI functionality, and it’s been incredible. It flags individuals of interest as soon as they enter the store, and we hope to expand this feature across all locations,’ says Nau.
Conclusion
With Verkada, City Beach has significantly improved loss prevention, reduced investigation times, and enhanced collaboration with law enforcement. As they continue to expand their deployment across more locations, City Beach aims to deliver a more secure and seamless shopping experience for their customers.
‘Verkada has delivered exactly what it promised. It’s a modern, intelligent, and easy-to-use solution that has exceeded our expectations,’ says Nau.
Learn more about protecting your organisation with Verkada, request a free trial camera or live demo.