Chad McIntosh has been in the loss prevention industry for over forty years.
He recently announced plans to retire in September 2018 from his current role as head executive of Bloomingdale’s loss prevention.
In the September-October 2018 issue of LP Magazine, McIntosh shares reflections on lessons learned with Executive Editor Jim Lee in a feature interview.
[text_ad use_post=’139873′]
From the article:
EDITOR: You’ve spent a number of years now at Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s and now finishing your career as the head LP executive at Bloomingdale’s. What changes have you seen in the industry over the years?
MCINTOSH: It’s absolutely amazing the amount of change that we’ve seen in the last five years and will likely see in the next five years. When you think about it, we’re living in this on-demand economy and, 80-plus percent of the population has social media profiles. Everybody’s touching their smartphone on a regular basis, 72 times a day on average. It’s changing the dynamic of retail when you look at the omni-channel perspective.
We’re actually experimenting with express checkout, which is a bit scary to an LP person, but we’re living in a world today where there are fewer productive stores and fewer productive people in those stores. The challenge for anyone in LP today is being the kind of leader who absorbs the chaos and returns order to the process. With my team here at Bloomingdale’s, I think that’s one of the things I have been able to bring to the organization sharpening our focus. But it’s been a challenge.
I try to get my team to think differently. There is an effect called the “streetlight effect.” It keeps us searching for answers where they’re easiest to find. In today’s world with the movement of merchandise such as with online transactions, pickup in store, or ship to store, you have to think differently about identifying your opportunities to reduce exposure and improve company profitability. It’s not as easy as it used to be.
A lot of our LP strategies were built around the fact that you had a 500-pound register that sat in one place on the floor and never moved, and now it’s all about mobile POS. We need to effectively work in LP in an environment where everything is moving.
In “A Lifetime of Learning,” McIntosh reveals the accomplishments he has achieved with Bloomingdale’s loss prevention that have made him most proud. He also addresses the importance of industry involvement in associations like the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC). Learn more in the article.
For more great LP content, visit the Table of Contents for the September–October 2018 issue or register for a FREE print or digital subscription to the magazine. [Note: if you’re already a logged-in subscriber, the previous link will take you to the current issue instead.]