In retail, brick-and-mortar stores experience loss or shrink due to shoplifting, fraud, employee theft and human error. To mitigate against this, many have dedicated loss prevention (LP) personnel who use a variety of tools, including in-store video surveillance systems and point of sale (POS) systems, to deter and investigate theft. But, despite the continued best efforts of LP teams, shrink is on the rise.
Today, retailers are looking to increase sales and compete with online stores like Amazon by offering a frictionless shopping experience. This means enabling customers to simply pick up merchandise and then pay without having to wait in checkout lines. Implementing these new shopping experiences has resulted in benefits for both retailers and consumers but presents challenges to LP teams as it can cause significant increases in shrink.
