How Retailers Are Leveraging Security Integration to Combat Loss and Gain Site-Wide Visibility

Retail crime isn't just shoplifting anymore. It's a sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar problem that's constantly evolving, underscoring the need for equally dynamic security strategies.

Today's threats extend far beyond the store floor, encompassing supply chains and online platforms. Combating this evolving landscape with disconnected security systems or outdated protocols creates blind spots. It makes it challenging to respond quickly or investigate effectively, leaving retailers feeling as though they're constantly playing Whack-a-Mole.

As risks grow and threats become more complex, retailers increasingly seek comprehensive security technologies that provide a complete view of events across the enterprise. Unified security platforms are emerging as the solution, integrating essential security and business operations into a single interface.

By unifying various security technologies, these platforms are transforming retail loss prevention and day-to-day operations, from the front of the store to the supply chain. This leads to enhanced situational awareness, faster incident response, reduced shrinkage, and better alignment with organizational goals.

The Evolving Landscape of Retail Loss Prevention

The retail loss prevention landscape is undergoing a significant transformation. Retail crime, exceptionally organized retail crime (ORC), poses a substantial and increasing financial burden on the retail industry. Recent reports indicate that the overall retail shrink resulted in losses exceeding $112 billion in just one year.

While employee theft and petty shoplifting remain concerns today, with projected losses from retail theft hitting over $53 billion annually by 2027, today’s criminals are no longer confined to physical stores. Their activities now extend to supply chains, online platforms, and other channels, meaning that more deliveries inherently mean more risk.

Organized Retail Crime (ORC) involves the large-scale theft of retail goods for resale on the black market. This crime is typically carried out by tech-savvy criminal networks operating across state lines, employing evolving methods that make traditional loss prevention less effective. While data varies, ORC accounts for a considerable portion of retail shrink.

Underscoring this trend, a 2021 Retail Industry Leaders Association study revealed that nearly 70% of APMs observed at least a moderate increase in organized retail crime, and 80% predicted it would only worsen. Four years later, with the ongoing surge in deliveries and digital transactions, that prediction appears increasingly accurate.

While your mind might go to the flash mob robberies of recent years, cargo theft constitutes a significant part of organized retail crime (ORC), involving sophisticated, targeted attacks within the supply chain. Criminals are increasingly using tactics like identity fraud to infiltrate these facilities. Fake IDs and license plates allow them to gain access when the proper security technology is lacking.

Limitations of Traditional, Disparate Security Systems 

Outdated or disconnected security systems significantly hinder loss prevention efforts. Managing multiple, non-integrated security solutions inevitably leads to inefficiencies and blind spots.

With disconnected systems, proactive security is only as good as the human behind the screens. If they have to bounce between a screen for video, another one for alarms, and a third to confirm point-of-sale (POS) data, they will likely miss crucial real-time events. Whether dealing with sophisticated crime, a single perpetrator, or employee theft, your teams must react quickly—something that’s hard to do when everything is siloed. Furthermore, consolidating information from various systems after an incident is a cumbersome process.

The challenge intensifies when relying on outdated security protocols, such as brass keys. For instance, a national tire distributor lost $2 million in inventory due to a lack of control over its credentials. They relied on traditional keys and locks; even leadership had no idea which employees, past or present, still had store keys hanging from their keyrings. Moving to cloud-based access control gave local managers greater control over their locations, including the ability to activate or deactivate access instantly. This change also facilitated the integration of physical security with their HR, alarm, and video surveillance systems, making all four crucial systems accessible through a single interface.

A weakness arises when security systems are not integrated with broader enterprise platforms, like HR or identity management systems. This disconnect makes managing access control exceptionally difficult and for retailers with high employee turnover, temporary workers, and numerous vendors, tracking access credentials' “Who, What, and When” becomes a significant vulnerability. Without integration, promptly revoking access when someone leaves or ensuring temporary access expires remains an ongoing challenge.

While different from the traditional retail model, a global chain of fitness studios also experiences high turnover and multiple sites that require centralized management. Integrating access control with their proprietary membership point-of-sale system has been a game-changer. Before, they had to manually enter members into two databases, one for their membership and another to activate their mobile passes. Now it all happens instantly. If someone cancels their membership or doesn’t pay that month, their access rights are immediately revoked. This adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that only approved people can access their locations. This works similarly for retail and distribution centers when identity management systems are connected.

Improved technology integration is essential throughout the entire supply chain, extending beyond the retail store itself. Suppose security relies solely on a guard with a clipboard. In that case, motivated thieves will find a way to bypass them, whether through a simple persuasive tactic to gain access or a more advanced method involving stolen or shared credentials. 

Following the previous example, logistics companies integrating their cloud-managed physical security systems with business operations software can sync with upcoming delivery schedules and shipment data. The tight connection between these systems significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access and theft within their warehouses. Ideally, drivers would be granted warehouse gate access via a mobile pass. Mobile credentials are the optimal solution because drivers typically keep them readily accessible, they are not easily shared, and stolen credentials are generally noticed and reported immediately. 

Security teams want to maximize control as risks evolve and threats become increasingly sophisticated. This fuels the growing push to integrate security technologies, offering a unified and comprehensive view of events across the entire retail enterprise.

Understanding Unified Security Platforms

A unified security platform combines the essential components of your security and business operations into a single, intuitive interface. This typically involves centralizing access control, video management systems (VMS), intrusion detection, and visitor management solutions, as well as all the data generated by each system, making it accessible through a single pane of glass. Unifying security technologies eliminates the need to toggle between views or manually run incident reports. Everything is available in one centralized location, providing better control and visibility across a few locations or thousands.

Access control is the foundation of your security infrastructure, determining who has access to what and when. Leveraging a cloud-based electronic platform for credential management offers significant advantages, particularly in dynamic, high-turnover environments such as retail stores and evolving distribution centers. These platforms centralize the management of access privileges.

Integrating a cloud-based access control platform with a Video Management System (VMS) enables visual verification at access points, confirming that the person using a credential is the authorized individual. Further integration with your Point of Sale (POS) system adds another critical layer of oversight. This enhanced visibility is vital for detecting transactional fraud and reducing overall shrinkage in retail environments.

By connecting access events, POS data, and video footage from all your systems and applying real-time data analysis, you can uncover valuable insights into theft trends while instantly identifying patterns and anomalies. This capability helps protect assets and minimize losses across all locations.

Beyond proactive measures, this integrated approach also significantly streamlines incident response and investigation. When a security incident or crime occurs, having event details and associated video footage readily available on a single platform drastically accelerates the investigation process.

Benefits of Unified Security Platforms in Retail

As security challenges become increasingly complex, smarter and more integrated solutions are essential to stay ahead. Relying on disconnected security systems is no longer enough. Implementing a unified security platform that integrates various security and operational technologies provides significant protection, efficiency, and loss prevention advantages across the entire retail enterprise. Here are some of the key benefits:

● Centralized Oversight Across All Locations: A unified platform gives retail teams a comprehensive view of security events across every location, reducing blind spots and simplifying management. Every door, camera, and alarm can be centrally controlled. Whether it’s local store managers or Security Operations Centers (SOC), everyone can easily monitor and assess what’s happening in real-time, from anywhere.

● Enhanced Threat Detection: Platform unification unlocks proactive capabilities that aren’t possible with traditional human monitoring. Real-time alerts and anomaly detection instantly identify threats such as forced doors, tailgating, or unusual transactions. This is especially valuable for teams operating without a full-time Security Operations Center (SOC). 

While employees might not consider it significant to prop a door when stepping out, such small actions can create substantial security challenges. A high-value goods retailer we work closely with particularly values the system's ability to instantly notify their teams if a door is left open, enabling them to proactively mitigate a potential risk before it becomes a serious problem.

● Improved Coordination and Response: Centralized systems improve communication and coordination between on-site teams and corporate security. Integrated platforms streamline forensic investigations by consolidating video, access control, and POS system data in one location, eliminating the need to manually retrieve information from disparate sources. Built-in incident management tools further speed up response times through efficient tagging, documentation, and reporting, enabling quicker investigation

Imagine a retail store struggling with missing high-value inventory from its stockroom. Traditionally, stores have a lock and key setup, where only managers are supposed to have access. The concept makes sense, but as soon as that store gets busy and the onsite manager doesn’t have time to walk employees to the backroom, he will hand off the key so they can grab inventory without delaying the sale.

Without the VMS and POS integrations, and no oversight of who went back into the stockroom—physical keys leave no trace—the only means of investigation is manually scrubbing months' worth of video footage to identify:

• When the high-value items left the stock room
• Who took the item
• Where did it go from there—did it make it to the sales floor or end up in someone's backpack?         

This investigation process can take weeks. Now, picture the same store with a unified physical security platform. Cloud-based access control tracks every entry into the stockroom, directly linked to cloud-based video management system (VMS) footage. All of these are integrated with the POS system. If the inventory is missing, security can instantly pull up access logs for the stockroom, view the corresponding timestamped video to see who entered, and cross-reference that with POS data to see if the item was sold. This eliminates manual video scrubbing and provides clear, connected evidence, transforming a weeks-long investigation into one that can be completed in minutes.

 ● Improved Operational Efficiency: In addition to security, the operational benefits cannot be overlooked. They streamline day-to-day security operations, allowing for leaner security teams. Immediate access to integrated data reduces the time it takes to understand and respond to events, while automation streamlines manual tasks. A cloud-based platform also enables remote management, reducing the need for extensive on-site security personnel.

Driven by the on-demand economy and just-in-time supply chains, "dark delivery"—moving goods during off-hours when facilities are unstaffed or have minimal crews—is becoming increasingly prevalent. While offering operational efficiencies, this strategy creates a significant security and logistical challenge: providing secure yet flexible access for a dynamic network of drivers to warehouses, stores, and other destinations when no personnel are present to manage access manually. One major retailer facing this challenge operates hundreds of trucks, servicing thousands of locations, where drivers and teams can change daily, with assignments sometimes made only hours beforehand. 

To address this, the company implemented cloud-based access control, enabling the digital assignment of credentials and flexible schedule modifications through an API. This allows for real-time adjustments to access privileges in the event of unexpected events, such as driver illness or traffic delays. For added security, video intelligence is integrated into their solution, allowing them to have eyes on everything that happens, even when they’re not physically present.  

● Reduction in Shrink and Improved ROI: A unified platform's cumulative effect of enhanced security and operational efficiency directly translates into tangible financial benefits and a compelling return on investment. By providing centralized oversight, the platform enhances threat detection, such as identifying propped doors or tailgating, and improves incident response, ultimately helping to deter and mitigate shrinkage. Faster investigations using integrated data result in less time spent on manual processes and quicker resolution of incidents, thereby minimizing financial loss.

Beyond loss prevention, significant operational ROI is achieved through efficiencies such as remotely managing security across multiple locations, reducing the need for extensive on-site security personnel. Automation of routine tasks streamlines workflows, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value activities. Furthermore, by securely enabling complex operations, such as the "dark delivery" model discussed earlier, the platform reduces friction, delays, and potential security risks that can lead to hidden costs, thereby directly contributing to a healthier bottom line.

Summary

Retail crime isn't what it used to be, and relying on outdated, disconnected security won't suffice against today's sophisticated threats. The costs are enormous, but the good news is that unified security platforms offer a powerful way forward. 

When you strategically integrate your security technology with the rest of your business systems, security becomes more than just another expense. It becomes a strategic function that actively contributes to the business's overall success. These platforms provide valuable data and insights necessary to inform more informed decisions about managing risk and optimizing operations across your entire organization.