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🎙️ Best Practices for Audio Recording in Retail
🎙️ Best Practices for Audio Recording in Retail

Recording in retail stores is legal, but stores should take steps to ensure regulatory compliance and optimize benefits.

Updated over 7 months ago

In the dynamic retail landscape, conversations between cashiers and customers contain vital and actionable insights that can now be surfaced using voice analytics solutions similar to those used in enterprise contact centers. The immense benefits of this net new source of insights from recording at POS extend across the retail enterprise with ROI contributions from:

  • Customer Experience

  • Executive Leadership

  • Loss Prevention

  • Human Relations

  • Category Management

  • Security

⚖️ While case law research concludes there is ‘no expectation of privacy’ in public places and recording in retail stores is fully permissible, we recommend that stores consider several measures to ensure regulatory compliance and maximize the benefits of recording.

  • 🧾 For cashiers, we suggest informing them of the recording during their training and onboarding process, and include their written acknowledgement. This serves to not only make them aware of the recording, but can be used as an opportunity to reinforce their training to speak clearly and be friendly and engaging with customers.

  • 🛍️ For customers, most stores already have a window sticker informing customers that activity is being recorded and under surveillance. InStore.ai offers stickers that indicate ‘recording for quality assurance’ is taking place, that can be placed near the register.

Example window/door sticker:

To further enable retail stores to meet their privacy requirements, the recording devices can be configured to meet different regional privacy requirements.

  • Most restrictive: Transcripts of cashier dialogue are uploaded for analytics and sharing. No audio or customer dialog is retained nor uploaded.

  • Less restrictive: Transcripts of cashier and customer dialog are uploaded for analytics and sharing. No audio is retained nor uploaded.

  • Best Insights: Transcripts of cashier and customer dialog are uploaded along with the audio for analytics and sharing.

InStore.ai is committed to working with stores to address privacy concerns of their customers. Please reach out to us if you have a specific question or need further clarification.

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