Four problems small business owners want apps to solve, shared as opportunities for developers
Small business owners who use Ring cameras want apps that turn their footage into answers about their business. Many of them described the same problems, and most are solving those problems today by scrolling through footage by hand. We see each problem below as a potential business opportunity for developers building on the Ring Appstore.
Over the past several months, the Ring team has interviewed and surveyed small business owners who use Ring cameras. We talked with restaurants, cafes, retail shops, salons, studios, dry cleaners, and appointment-based practices about how they use their cameras and what they wish the cameras did. This post shares the problems they described most often, along with a few thoughts on what an app could do about each one.
About this list
These are themes from our research, shared as ideas. They aren’t a forecast of market demand or revenue, a guarantee that an app in any of these areas will succeed, or a commitment from Ring to feature, promote, or support a particular app. Ring and other developers may also build in these areas. If you decide to pursue one, the decision is yours. The example alerts below are illustrations of what owners described wanting.
The common thread
Owners told us their cameras show them what happened, but they still have to work out what it means for the business. They described checking footage first thing in the morning, scrubbing through clips after a problem, and making staffing and inventory decisions on instinct because they couldn’t easily measure what was going on in the store. Each of the four areas below is a version of that problem.
1. Remote operations monitoring
The opportunity: Owners want to know the business ran as planned without watching footage to find out. An app that answers that question could serve restaurants, retailers, service businesses, and warehouses alike.
Business types: restaurants and cafes, retail, personal services, warehouses, light manufacturing
What we heard: Owners aren’t always on-site, and they want to know the business is running as planned. They asked questions like these: Did the store open on time? Has the counter been left unattended? Did anyone come in after lockup? Are staff following closing procedures? One cafe owner checks the cameras before the 7 AM opening on their days off to confirm staff showed up. Other owners described spending part of every day away from the store reviewing footage to confirm orders were handled.
Ideas for what an app could do:
- Open and close confirmation: “Your store opened at 7:02 AM. Two staff members arrived.”
- Unattended area alerts: “Your front counter has been unattended for 12 minutes during business hours.”
- After-hours entry alerts tied to the business’s own schedule: “Someone entered your storage room at 11:43 PM, 3 hours after closing.”
- A daily summary across all cameras: “Tuesday: opened 7:01 AM, 4 staff on the floor by 7:15, no after-hours activity, 2 deliveries at the back door.”
- Process checks the owner defines: “The back door was left propped open after the last staff member left at 9:18 PM.”
- Patterns over time: “Tuesday afternoons are consistently understaffed compared with Thursdays.”
Owners were especially interested in rules they set themselves, questions asked in plain language, and a single daily view across cameras.
2. Incident evidence
The opportunity: When something goes wrong, owners need the right footage quickly, and finding it by hand is slow. An app that pulls that evidence together for them addresses a problem owners told us can be costly.
Business types: retail, restaurants and cafes, warehouses, manufacturing, professional services
What we heard: After a theft, a customer dispute, or a slip-and-fall, owners need the right footage quickly, often for an insurance claim or a police report they file. Finding it across several cameras takes a long time. A dry cleaner with six cameras told us they only spot-check because reviewing everything is too slow. One appliance retailer couldn’t produce evidence for an insurance claim. A restaurant owner recorded their screen with a phone because they couldn’t find a better way to export a clip.
Ideas for what an app could do:
- Flag likely incidents: “Possible break-in at your back entrance at 2:14 AM. Motion on 2 cameras.”
- Build a timeline across cameras: “2:14 AM, person approaches back door (Camera 3). 2:16 AM, moves to register (Camera 1). 2:18 AM, exits with a bag (Camera 4).”
- Write a short plain-language summary of the incident.
- Package clips, the timeline, and still frames into a report the owner can download and share as they choose, for example with their insurer.
3. Traffic and demand insights
The opportunity: Owners make decisions about staffing, inventory, and hours without reliable data on customer traffic. An app that measures traffic using the cameras they already have could fill that gap.
Business types: retail (merchandising and layout), restaurants and cafes (staffing), personal services
What we heard: Owners decide on staffing, inventory, and hours using stand-ins like transaction counts, appointment books, and experience. Transactions only count people who bought something, and appointment books miss walk-ins. A pet grooming owner whose customers are about half walk-ins told us the decision to stay open later or add staff is made on instinct. An antique store owner wants to know how many people look at or pick up a high-value item before it sells. An appliance retailer reviews footage to see which products draw interest and wants to follow a customer from one camera’s view to the next.
Ideas for what an app could do:
- Visitor counts with comparisons: “15 customers in the last hour, up from the same hour last Tuesday.”
- Peak hours compared with staffing: “Your busiest stretch this week was Saturday 11 AM to 1 PM, and you had 1 staff member on.”
- Dwell time by area: “Customers spend about 4 minutes in accessories and under a minute at the new arrivals display.”
- Customer-to-staff alerts: “8 customers on the floor and 1 staff member.”
- Product interest: “12 customers picked up the jacket on Display A this week.”
- Suggestions on hours based on walk-in traffic near opening and closing times.
Owners were especially interested in dwell time, product interest, and connecting traffic to sales and staffing.
4. Appointment and chair management
The opportunity: Appointment-based owners told us none of their tools connect what’s happening in the shop with the booking calendar. Of the ideas we tested with these owners, this one drew the strongest response.
Business types: salons, barbershops, lash and nail studios, spas, and health practices such as acupuncture and physical therapy
What we heard: Appointment-based businesses lose time and revenue to no-shows, late cancellations, and appointments that run long and back up the rest of the day. A lash studio owner explained that when a newer technician runs five minutes over, then another five, the delay adds up and customers end up waiting. An acupuncture practice owner called appointment management the biggest drain on their energy. Barbershop owners told us chair utilization matters for pay, since barbers are often paid by clients served or hours worked.
Ideas for what an app could do:
- Overrun alerts: “The client in Chair 2 has been seated 52 minutes, 12 past the scheduled slot. Your next client checks in at 3:00 PM.”
- No-show prompts: “Your 3:00 PM hasn’t arrived and it’s 3:12. Call to confirm?”
- A live view of schedule versus reality: “Chair 1 on time. Chair 2 running 12 minutes over. Chair 3 empty until 3:30.”
- Wait time tracking for walk-ins in the reception area.
- A daily utilization summary: appointments completed on time, overruns, no-shows, and chair utilization.
Build note: this area depends on integrating with the booking and scheduling tools these businesses already use.
Summary
| Problem area | Business types |
|---|---|
| Remote operations monitoring | Restaurants, retail, services |
| Incident evidence | Retail, restaurants, warehouses |
| Traffic and demand insights | Retail, restaurants |
| Appointment and chair management | Salons, studios, health practices |
If you want to explore one of these
- Developer documentation: https://developer.ring.com/
- Questions: reply to this post to ask questions or compare notes with other developers.