Retailers will be sharing more data and collaborating on a wider range of loss prevention initiatives to fill a vacuum left by police forces facing swingeing cuts.
That’s the firm belief of Kerinda Ibbotson, managing director of ORIS, who puts forward these views as the company celebrates a decade of operations as a leading loss prevention specialist.
Ibbotson predicts that retailers will have to do more themselves to bring successful prosecutions against in-store thieves, whether they be shoplifters or dishonest members of staff.
“We have established a number of new ORIS retail loss prevention forums during the past 18 months, taking the total to five,” said Ibbotson in conversation with SMT Online.
“The first forum we established is the now well-known Fashion Forum, which came into being back in 2006. Retailers meet regularly to collaborate in a number of areas and work together as one voice and a joint force to lobby bodies and enforcement agencies such as the UK’s 43 police forces, eBay, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the BRC, town centre partnerships and the media to name but a few.”
Setting retail crime prevention as a KPI
However, Ibbotson warns that more will have to be done by retailers to make police officers set retail crime as a KPI for their force, and that ‘campaigning’ work will have to go beyond providing ‘gift-wrapped’ cases to prosecute.
“Many police officers do not understand some of the more complex retail scams,” suggested Ibbotson. “One of the forums is already talking to police training schools about providing training on what to look for.”
As far as Ibbotson’s concerned, this is a way of working together to secure engagement at the grass roots level and build a two-way, mutually beneficial relationship.
“Most retailers have already invested heavily in loss prevention technology and training, but have all of them recognised the power of collaboration?” questioned Ibbotson.
“Where once these retailers would have been sworn competitors, all differences must be put aside when it comes to trying to reduce retail crime on the High Street.”
Such crime reached a staggering GB pound 4 billion last year alone.
As reported on SMT Online, ORIS Group has recently strengthened its team and product offering and has refreshed its branding to reflect its broader profit protection and risk offering. It’s also staging Olympic Retail Resilience Review meetings to help retailers make sure that they are fully prepared for the associated risks and opportunities the 2012 Games will present.
British Retail Consortium to offer cash handling solutions
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Cash Dynamics, a leading specialist in developing unique cash handling solutions for the retail sector, have signed a strategic alliance to offer BRC retail members a design and build service for innovative bespoke cash handling solutions.
The services offered by Cash Dynamics include: conceptual design, prototype and bespoke build solutions, Cash Harvester (effective secure back office cash processing coupled with tamper- evident bagging solutions) and Till Skimming Devices (TSDs), which are designed to secure, bag and process surplus cash ready for CIT collection or transfer to a secure back office
Keith Evans, the chief executive of BRC Trading, said: “We are delighted to be working with such a highly respected organisation and believe the products and services being offered through this business partnership will provide considerable value for BRC retail members.”
Paul Heathcote, director of Cash Dynamics, added: “Cash Dynamics is delighted to be in partnership with the British Retail Consortium in what is a strategic alliance. In today’s retailer environment cash management, processing and handling are costly disciplines for any business. A bespoke approach to reducing cash shrinkage, discrepancies and opportune criminal activity as well as operational costs is our business.”