For some consumers, it is a bit hard to understand the shoplifting issues facing the retail industry today. It is a surprising and scary fact that the retail industry losses approximately $13 billion dollars in stolen goods yearly, and the uncollected taxes along with them. Retailers across the nation invest in theft-prevention technology to help them deterred the shoplifter without involving the authorities. Some of the technology involved includes smart tagging, source tagging and entry sensors. For more about the impact of web and mobile technologies on shoplifting prevention, click on the links below.
The Impact of Evolving Web and Mobile Technologies on Retail Fraud Control
As the separate tracks of online and mobile technology continue to evolve and converge, the challenges and the opportunities facing fraud control professionals are maturing at a similar rate.
The main shortcoming of traditional search engines is that they are almost totally dependent on hyperlinks and keywords to identify what data is available online. However, less than 10 per cent of the open-source data stored on the Internet is accessible in this manner and only about 27 per cent of that is in English.The phrase “Deep Web” refers to that part of the Internet that is not indexed by traditional search engines. Estimates vary, but it is commonly thought that the data held in Deep Web repositories is 500 times greater than that normally searched by conventional means.New technologies, or the application of existing technologies in new ways, can bring both risks and rewards. Fraud control teams and investigators need to come to terms with an emerging new world order in which, not only consumers, but also autonomous devices, are responsible for some transactions, and where threats from other sectors such as banking and the unregulated payments space are increasingly relevant to anyone engaged in e-commerce.
5 Ways Businesses Can Prevent Retail Theft
Retailers in the U.S. lose nearly $US45 billion annually as a result of theft. That’s a lot of money walking out the door.
“Retailers have a challenge,” says Steve Sell, director of marketing for North American retail at Tyco Integrated Security. “They can put everything out on the sidewalk and everything is going to be stolen, or they can lock everything up and nothing will get bought. No matter how quickly loss-prevention technologies evolve, the criminals will evolve just as quickly. There will always be a need to increase visibility and manage theft.”
The solution is to make it harder and riskier to steal things, according to Dr. Hayes, director of the Loss Prevention Research Council.
“Retailers spend so much money on technology that is hidden,” says Dr. Hayes. “That doesn’t work.” Thieves need to understand the danger, which means having technology in plain sight. Difficult-to-open packaging can act as a deterrent, as can eye-level cameras. Hayes also advocates “benefit denial” — making products useless unless they are purchased legitimately.
Beeping baskets new retail tool
Supermarkets are electronically tagging baskets after thousands started disappearing out the door.
Pak ‘n Save Petone has used the electronic tags since late last year, and is believed to be one of a number of supermarkets who are tracking their baskets.
Several Countdown supermarkets are also keeping a closer electronic eye on their baskets.
Pak ‘n Save Petone owner Leo O’Sullivan said the store had lost about 2000 baskets in 15 years but, since the tags were introduced, not one had gone missing.
He did not know why anyone would want a supermarket basket, but suspected many were taken absent-mindedly, rather than maliciously, and never returned.
“There must be a graveyard of baskets somewhere in Petone.”
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