Preventing Retail Shrinkage

Shrinkage within the retail sector runs in to billions every year against an economic backdrop of reduced consumer spend and ever increasing pressure on margins through reduced sales and increasing costs.

The British Retail Consortium survey for 2008 - 2009 reported that shrinkage represented 1.5 per cent of retail turnover last year. Half of this figure was attributed to human error, such as giving too much change to customers, or deliberate acts of dishonesty by employees.

A recent survey of European retail losses conducted by the Centre for Retail Research found that staff shrinkage in the UK is the highest in Europe, accounting for 36.8 per cent of retail losses. The European average is 29.8 per cent of retail losses caused by employees’ dishonesty.

VigilancePro® Retail combats staff shrinkage by monitoring every key press on EPOS devices and linking this with CCTV surveillance systems, to create an irrefutable audit trail of all activity at payment points.  

All transactions – including voids, refunds, no sales, and supervisor code use - are recorded with detailed real-time reporting of exceptions that might indicate shrinkage.

Solution Highlights:

• Integrate a wide range of EPOS terminals and CCTV with a single simple software solution
• Address three key areas within any retail environment:
  • Profit Protection
  • Staff Productivity and Training
  • Promotions Management
• Cost effective with rapid return on investment
• Monitor every key press within cash register software
• Provide irrefutable evidence trails
  • who, what, where, and when
• Monitor EPOS terminal activity for suspicious events
• Alert profit protection teams and management in real-time
• Round the clock overt and covert monitoring
• Integrate with existing data warehouses or standalone with in-built enterprise reporting