Shoplifting Suspect Running from Walmart Hit, killed by Car
San Antonio, Texas, Police say a man was hit and killed by a car on Loop 410 as he tried to run away from a Walmart security employee on Tuesday morning. According to police, the man was caught shoplifting inside the Walmart at Loop 410 and Ray Ellison Boulevard when he was confronted by a loss prevention officer. He ran out of the store, up the embankment of Loop 410 and onto the main lanes of the highway. He was hit by a car. The man died as a result of his injuries. His identity was not released, but he was approximately 40 years old. The driver of the car kept going, but later returned. Officers said that person might face charges, pending the outcome of the investigation. [NEWS4SA]
How Are Merchants Prepping For Prime Day?
Buoyed by the success of its first ever Prime Day last summer, Amazon is again prepping a massive sales day for mid-July, and merchants and retailers are gearing up for the event. Amazon said its first Prime Day last July 15, to celebrate the online retailer’s 20thanniversary, garnered 18 percent higher sales than its previous Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season the first Friday after Thanksgiving and 266 percent higher than sales on July 15, 2014. Earlier this year, Amazon sent a letter to merchants stating that it planned another Prime Day in mid-July and encouraging them to submit products for consideration as part of its Prime Day Lightning Deals by May 4. “Last year we celebrated the first ever Prime Day, a one-day global shopping event exclusively for Prime members,” the letter stated. “Customers ordered 34.4 million items, breaking all of our Black Friday records with 398 items ordered per second. Prime Day was also a success for sellers on Amazon that use Fulfillment by Amazon, with record-breaking unit sales growing nearly 300 percent worldwide.” Amazon asked merchants to “provide the best value to customers” as part of the deals they planned to offer on Prime Day, and that they would notify them by May 18 if their deals were selected. All inventory for Prime Day deals had to be received at Amazon fulfillment centers by June 22, Amazon said. Experts have also warned retailers that, although Amazon has not confirmed the date for its second Prime Day, they should expect high traffic on that date and have plenty of inventory on hand to satisfy the demand, because people will be looking to shop online that day. “The deluge of deal hunters expected on Amazon on Prime Day will be happy to lap up a good deal, no matter if it’s Prime eligible or not,” Selina Heckendorf writes in a blog post urging merchants to stock up for Prime Day. [PYMNTS]
Five Reasons Why Classification Is the First Step to Successful Data-Loss Prevention
When looking at best practices for successful data protection, the first or second step is almost always discovery and identification. Data-loss prevention (DLP) tools can give you some sense of what you have and can monitor the flow of information, but they cannot provide identity to the degree of certainty that is required for proper data governance. In contrast, data classification provides the permanent and explicit identification labels that DLP systems need to correctly process the data. Let’s take a look at five reasons why organizations that want to get the most from their DLP implementation choose to roll out classification first. [DataCentralJournal]
LP Worldwide: Could “Pigeon-Holing” Types of Loss Be Contributing to Rising Shrinkage for Some UK Retailers?
New Survey suggests old silo approach could be costing some dearly. Mass merchants and department stores have seen a massive 58% increase in shrinkage rates since last year, which is no surprise as they continue to treat online and store loss prevention separately according to the 2016 UK Retail Fraud Survey. Published by Retail Knowledge and sponsored by WIS International, one of the leading global inventory and data collection services companies, for the second consecutive year, the Survey is the most extensive report into the systems, processes and strategies of the UK’s top retailers available. Increasingly retailers are taking a joined up approach to store and online loss prevention taking a holistic approach to risk across all channels. Only a few years ago the Survey concluded that hardly any retailers took this stance. However, this year only 30.3% of retailers continue to operate in silos across channels, a major shift in how risk is managed. In this respect Mass Merchants and Large format specialty are lagging behind, with 60% and 40% respectively still treating channels separately. Those taking an holistic approach to loss prevention across all channels have seen a decrease in shrinkage rates whilst those who have opted for the separate approach have seen a massive increase in the last year which has contributed to the £2.34 Billion loss to shrink. [ResponseSource]
Checkpoint Reveals 3rd National Source Tagging Symposium Findings From Retailers, CPG Manufacturers
Checkpoint Systems recently disclosed findings from its third annual National Source Tagging Symposium, which was hosted at CVS Health Headquarters in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Additional source tagging road shows and innovative tours will be held around the globe throughout the year starting this month. Attendees typically are represented by various vertical markets, from drug/pharmacy, to discount stores, to supermarkets, to general apparel and specialty accessories as well as cosmetic and pharmaceutical consumer package goods (CPG) manufacturers. These events provide a forum for retailers and CPG manufacturers to work together on source tagging initiatives that will reduce their labor costs and shrink, while protecting brands and improving their in-store shopper experience. One VP of loss prevention at a major North American drugstore chain previously noted that source tagging alone reduced theft of high-risk items by 44 percent. Another noted that “visible tags are a great theft deterrent, and source tagging protects the look and feel of premium packaging better than in-store tagging.” Because of the proven benefits of visual source tagging, another major retailer has determined that its products must have visual ‘Security Protected’ marking or visible circuit as a minimum. One of its LP executives noted that it is better to “deter than to catch.”
This year’s presenters included experts from retailers and CPG manufacturers from across the globe. The symposium began with an open panel discussion conducted by Colin Peacock (ECR Community Shrink, OSA Group) who allowed participants to share their shrink pain points and best practices among other loss prevention professionals sharing a major goal in common of decreasing shrink/increasing ROI. The event boasted a double digit increase in attendance from 2015 with a record number of new CPGs and retailers.
National Source Tagging Symposium Findings
During this year’s session, leading drugstores and specialty retailers in attendance shared three critical factors for source tagging success. These included the following:
- Source tagging must be a group effort, not a solo effort by asset protection. The effectiveness of a source tagging program is greatly increased by involving multiple retail functions, including merchandising and operations, and coordination between retailers and supplier functions, such as category management.
- Source tagging is an ongoing program that must offer win-win outcomes for both retailers and suppliers. The ongoing nature of the program should reflect loss prevention and packaging trends and keep up with the increasing pace of new product introductions and line extensions. These solutions should ideally be part of the initial product design.
- Partnerships between category managers, packagers and retailers are crucial as new product introductions need to be focused on increasing sales and profits.
When source tagging follows this comprehensive source-to-customer approach it can have a dramatic impact on sales and profits for these introductions. According to Keith McUmber, director of Source Tagging, Checkpoint Systems, “We believe it is our responsibility to bring together experts to educate the retail industry and push forward new standards for source tagging services. We thank CVS Health for hosting this session, and attendees and presenters for sharing important source tagging experiences with industry peers.” [LossPreventionMedia]