Industry · Retail
Cut shrink where it actually happens.
Most shrink starts inside. Tec-Tel designs, installs, and tunes the intelligence layer that catches it: organized-crime pattern recognition across stores, POS-to-video pairing, exit-lane plate recognition, foot-traffic and behavior analytics, and plain-English footage search. We install it on the cameras you already own, as the nationwide integrator behind your stores. Camera-agnostic and PCI-DSS aware.
- NDAA-compliant
- Platform-agnostic
- 1,000+ deployments over 15 years
How can we help?
Tell us what you're working through. We'll route it to the right person.
§01 What we install in retail
The system an LP director relies on.
Once a store is commissioned, a case builds itself from the camera up. Here's what your LP team, store managers, and CFO work with from day one.
§ How we work
ORC crews hit multiple stores before anyone connects the pattern. We pair the cameras to your POS exception data so the same crew working store 4 and store 41 surfaces as one case, with the clips an investigator can hand to law enforcement.
How Tec-Tel works in retail
§02 How a Tec-Tel deployment works
Five steps, one accountable team.
Walk every store before we quote
No quote-by-floorplan. We come on site, talk to your LP and store-ops leads, and document what's actually in the ceiling.
Standardize across the chain
One or two camera platforms. One access platform. Five stores from five remodels get one VMS, not five logins.
Size the network and PCI scope first
PoE budget + PCI-DSS Requirement 9 are the real constraints. We touch switches, cabling, and CDE camera coverage before any analytics.
Pair POS to video before alerts go live
Event-stream bridges so a void or refund auto-clips the right camera. We tune POS exception thresholds on site before alerts route to LP.
Hand off with a runbook
Your team gets a written ops doc: escalation tree, retention rules per camera, who calls Tec-Tel for what. We sequence around your store-ops calendar.
§03 What a Tec-Tel install looks like
Three store shapes. Three different stacks.
A strip-mall specialty store, a big-box anchor, and a mall location each carry different shrink and different ceilings. Here's how the three break down.
Specialty retail, boutique, single-location operator
- → POS-to-video on every register, sweethearting alerts
- → Cash-handling coverage with two-person rule on the safe
- → Door alarms on after-hours entry
- → Cloud VMS, no on-prem server to maintain
Multi-store chain, regional LP team, mixed remodel cycles
- → Standardized camera spec rolled out by region
- → Central VMS with role-based access per store + per LP investigator
- → Cross-store ORC search, plate-share where permitted
- → 90-day retention on CDE cameras (PCI-DSS Req 9)
Big-box, national chain, franchise + corporate mix
- → Phased rollout by remodel cycle, no Saturday-aisle disruption
- → Master spec for franchisees with optional service contract
- → Exit-lane LPR + foot-traffic analytics at every store
- → Centralized LP dashboard, regional service crews
§04 Compliance buyers ask us about
Frameworks we build to.
Physical access to the cardholder data environment. Cameras cover CDE entry points, 90-day minimum retention, badge access mapped to areas. Designed to this bar by default.
Biometric privacy. We default to badge-and-PIN before face biometrics in any state with biometric law. Non-identifying foot-traffic counts only where compliance is in scope.
Accessible store entrances, parking-lot routes, and queue analytics designed to flag wait imbalance for assisted lanes.
Workplace Violence Prevention guidance for retail. Documented coverage, intervention workflow, and incident retention that survives a recordable.
Single site? Start self-serve
Add AI to the cameras you already run.
Running one store? Skip the design-build. Add AI to your existing cameras from $23 per camera per month, with register-exception capture and foot-traffic analytics, installed within days.
From $23/camera/mo · install in days
Questions buyers ask us
FAQ
- What does AI retail security cost per store?
- Most multi-store rollouts land in the low-to-mid five figures per store, scaling with store size, camera count, how much usable cabling is already in the ceiling, and whether you add AI analytics on top. A small specialty store and a big-box AI-heavy site sit at very different points. Tec-Tel walks your stores, scopes against your camera count and store mix, and comes back with a defensible per-store budget. That scope is the free consultation.
- How long does a multi-store rollout take?
- A single store is fast. A regional or national rollout runs in sequenced waves by region or remodel cycle, so aisles stay open and store ops keeps running. The timeline tracks your remodel and store-ops calendar more than ours. We size it against your store list in the free consultation.
- Does this need PCI-DSS treatment?
- Yes if your stores process card data. PCI-DSS Requirement 9 covers physical access to the cardholder data environment. Cameras cover CDE entry points, footage retains 90 days minimum, access-control logs map badge holders to areas. Designed to that bar by default. Source: PCI Security Standards Council DSS v4.0.
- Does it integrate with our POS and LP software?
- Yes for most modern stacks. POS integration uses event streams or webhook bridges so a void or refund at register 4 auto-clips the camera covering register 4. Talks to common retail LP and exception-reporting ecosystems through standard APIs.
- How do you handle franchise vs corporate?
- Franchise stores carry a different procurement and IT story. We deliver a corporate-mandated standard spec (camera platform, retention, layout) that franchisees install through us under master pricing, while leaving the franchisee in control of their own service contract. Corporate-owned stores bill and support centrally.
Talk through your site
Get a plan built around your store list.
Book a free consultation. The Tec-Tel team walks your store list with you and comes back with what's reusable, what PCI-DSS expects, and a defensible per-store budget.
- Tell us how many sites you run and what's already in place. We'll show you what a build or upgrade looks like.
- Straight answers from the team that does the work. We're platform-agnostic, so you get the system that fits your sites, not one brand's catalog.
Since 2010 · 1,000+ deployments nationwide · ISN-accredited
How can we help?
What you're looking for, plus any details. We review it and follow up, usually the same day.
Related from Tec-Tel
Multi-site rollout playbook
How we sequence cabling, install, and commissioning across a national footprint without extended store downtime.
Read on DataRetail loss-prevention AI pricing
Cost ranges for single-store, regional, and national retail rollouts. ASIS and Loss Prevention Magazine benchmarks.
Read on ComplianceNDAA Section 889: existing cameras
If you sell to or accept federal pass-through funding, here's the rip-and-replace plan that doesn't blow the budget.
Read on VendorDTiQ video plus POS guide
Managed video paired to your POS to catch register fraud and false refunds, with SmartAudit across every store.
Read on