The National Retail Security Survey by the University of Florida reports that nearly $35 billion was lost by retailers as a result of inventory shrinkage last year. This equals about 1.5% of total retail sales. While the numbers have trended slightly down for six years in a row, the losses still equate to more than half of retailers' reported profits. It's not news that the primary culprits, employee theft and shoplifting, represent more than 80% of shrinkage.

Although studies show shrink figures in decline, sustaining the downward trend may be considerably more difficult in the current economic environment. During economic downturns, theft and fraud rates at retail tend to spike. So, before executives consider reassigning LP resources to conserve budgets, they should weigh the potentially negative impact of such a move in the current economic environment.

A more effective strategy under these circumstances may be to convert losses into profit--which creates an immediate improvement in margins--rather than trying to cut costs, attract new customers, or squeeze more margins out of fewer sales. New solutions provided through networked LP systems, are dramatically changing the shrink picture, which inherently changes margins upward. For example, a California supermarket recently implemented an LP network system in a number of stores and experienced a 90+ basis point reduction in shrink across the board.

Loss prevention strategies at retail companies vary, with most employing centralized departments that include security personnel stationed in stores. In terms of technology, most supermarkets deploy at least two types of systems to help detect employee theft and deter shoplifting: point-of-sale (POS) devices or programs and closed circuit TV (CCTV). These investments make sense because they are addressing some portion of the two biggest contributors to shrink.

Most POS systems feature exception reporting capabilities that can track any unusual amounts of voids or no sales, as well as detect discount and coupon fraud. CCTV is used to observe shoplifting and cashier fraud activity. Another system that had been deployed for the past several years is Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), a theft deterrent system requiring the application of security tags on individual pieces of merchandise coupled with sensors at all customer exits.

While all of these systems have had some impact on shrink, the effect is slow and incremental, as noted by the research. Fortunately, there are now powerful, complementary ways to go after criminals.