Loss Prevention Strategies for Retailers

3 Best Ways to Positively Impact Your Bottom Line

Implementing the right loss prevention strategy for your retail business is as crucial now than it was ever before.

For many retailers, both large and small, inventory shrinkage continues to affect the bottom line more and more significantly, which unfortunately has led to some businesses having to close their doors. Ultimately, the answer to this problem lies in proper loss prevention strategies, but the ambiguity of finding the right one for your business has led many retailers down a rabbit hole of asset protection solutions that simply don’t deliver.
 
Below, we will cover some of the best ways to identify the right strategies for your business. First let’s look at why inventory shrinkage is such a problem for retailers everywhere.
 
How Inventory Shrinkage Impacts Retailers’ Bottom Line

Inventory shrinkage is the amount of inventory that is lost by a retailer due to external or internal causes, whether that’s theft, merchandise damage, or miscounts.

Inventory shrinkage is largely unavoidable, at least to some extent. The National Retail Federation reported that, on average, retailers lost 1.6% in sales due to shrinkage in 2022. Even the most vigilant shop owners can’t account for every situation where asset loss occurs, but that doesn’t mean the margin by which it happens can’t be reduced. Especially as it relates to theft and organized retail crime, there are many different methods retailers can use to mitigate the impact shrink has on their bottom line.

Alongside theft, loss prevention strategies can also benefit other operational areas. At the end of the day, that means retailers will be increasing the return they get from their sales efforts, all while limiting how much is lost in the process.

Retail Loss Prevention – 3 Indispensable Strategies to Incorporate

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Another AI Tool Emerges for Retailers Fighting ORC
Pose-Based AI Emerges as a New Tool in Retail Crime Prevention

By the D&D Daily staff

As organized retail crime (ORC) continues to evolve, retailers and researchers are exploring new technologies to detect and prevent theft. One area gaining attention is pose-based artificial intelligence (AI), which analyzes body posture and movement patterns rather than relying on facial recognition or appearance-based surveillance.

Instead of focusing on who someone is, pose-based systems track how people move through a store. By flagging motions linked to concealment or other unusual activity, these tools may provide real-time alerts for store teams. Researchers note that this method can operate alongside existing technologies, offering an additional layer of insight into shopper behavior.

Recent academic studies highlight the potential of this technology. Researchers have released benchmark datasets and models designed to detect shoplifting behavior from anonymized pose data captured in retail environments. These frameworks aim to lower false positives, improve detection accuracy, and provide retailers with tools that are both scalable and privacy-conscious.

Early field use has also been reported. In the Bay Area, some small business owners have experimented with AI-driven monitoring that tracks movement patterns tied to shoplifting, reporting fewer incidents as a result. While these pilot projects remain limited, they highlight the potential for retailers to add pose-based detection to the broader suite of tools used to address ORC.

The technology is not without challenges. Pose-based systems require clear camera placement and can struggle in crowded or poorly lit stores. Questions remain about accuracy across diverse populations and body types, as well as how data is stored, shared, and potentially linked with other identifiers. Legal and regulatory frameworks governing AI surveillance also vary widely by state, adding complexity to adoption.

For retailers, the promise lies in supplementing existing security measures with a technology designed to focus on behavior rather than identity. Whether it becomes a standard tool will depend on continued research, pilot testing, and the balance between effectiveness, cost, and compliance.

As ORC continues to adapt, pose-based AI represents one of the latest efforts to give retailers new tools in the fight against theft—an area that is likely to draw more attention from both industry and policymakers in the years ahead.


Crime Scaring Young People from Retail Jobs?
UK: Retail boss warns shoplifting fears deterring young staff

Jonathan James, who runs 40 Select Convenience stores, said he is struggling to recruit staff worried about being targeted by criminals

Young people are turning away from retail jobs because of fears they could be attacked by shoplifters, a convenience store owner has warned. Jonathan James, who runs around 40 stores under the Select Convenience brand said he is struggling to recruit staff concerned about being targeted by criminals.

“It’s just completely going unchecked and that is having an impact, obviously on morale, but it’s also having an impact on recruitment,” he told The Telegraph. “People are just seeing in the local paper that the shops have been done and staff have been assaulted.

“It’s a hell of a job to recruit because they don’t want to put themselves in harm’s way.”

Figures from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) show more than 6.2 million shoplifting incidents were recorded in the past year, costing businesses over £2.2bn. James said it was the first time in his 25 years in retail that he was designing stores around security and staff safety rather than profitability.

The British Retail Consortium’s annual crime survey reported violence and abuse against retail workers rose by more than 50% in the past year and 340% since 2020. It said incidents had climbed from 455 a day in 2020 to over 2,000 a day, the highest level recorded. 70 of those daily incidents involved a weapon – more than double the previous year.

Chris Noice, communications director at the ACS, said: “Retailers and their colleagues have to deal with everything from theft and abuse to assault, violence and being threatened with weapons.

“In the last two years, retailers have spent over half a billion pounds on making their shops safer and more secure. This must be backed up by the police when incidents are reported to stop the prolific offenders that are targeting shops on a regular basis.”  betterretailing.com


More PDs Boost Tech to Fight Retail Crime
Freeport, Ill. police to enhance body cams, ShotSpotter with new Retail Crime grant
The Freeport Police Department has been awarded significant funding to enhance its technological capabilities, with a $9,000 Organized Retail Crime grant from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and $630,000 in FY26 appropriations from US Senator Dick Durbin’s office.

The funding will support technological upgrades for the department, including maintaining existing Shot Spotter coverage and expanding the use of body-worn cameras.

The appropriations will also allow the Freeport Police Department to acquire two additional squad video cameras and DVRs, a drone, license plate reader cameras, and a mobile command trailer. These enhancements are aimed at improving the department’s ability to respond to and manage incidents more effectively.

However, the implementation of these plans is contingent upon the passage of the appropriations bill, which will determine the availability of the $630,000 funding from Senator Durbin’s office. mystateline.com


National Guard Helping Cust Crime in NM
Democratic New Mexico Gov. says National Guard cut crime significantly
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tells NewsNation that deploying the National Guard to combat crime in Albuquerque has led to dramatic results, with felony arrests up 22% and misdemeanor arrests increasing 30%.

The Democratic governor, who declared a public safety emergency in April and deployed several dozen National Guard troops to Albuquerque’s Route 66 corridor, defended her decision as necessary to ensure residents feel safe in their communities.

“I’m not looking for a reputation. I’m looking to solve a problem until every New Mexican meets their constitutional right … to feel safe in their church and home and grocery store,” Grisham told NewsNation. newsnationnow.com


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