Tackling Retail Security: Leveraging Innovation to Combat Rising Threats While Preserving Customer Experience

Retailers and loss prevention practitioners face an extremely difficult job: balancing the need to protect assets, employees, and customers without disrupting the overall customer experience. In a retail landscape where customer satisfaction is paramount, security measures must be effective yet unobtrusive.

The challenge is that retailers face several significant security threats that show no signs of disappearing. This includes theft due to shoplifting or organized retail crime, active shooters and shrinkage due to internal threat. According to the National Retail Federation Retail Security Survey 2023, retailers reported $112 billion in losses and the shrink rate is only increasing each year. 

With this in mind, what are some of the emerging security solutions that retailers can invest in that go beyond the traditional surveillance and access control systems to enhance security?

Mobile surveillance systems
One of the most important technologies in a retail setting is the surveillance system, which provides real time and recorded data on activities within a store and along the perimeter enabling loss prevention experts to detect shoplifters and manager slip and falls. Retailers can take surveillance a step further with the addition of mobile surveillance units, which are becoming a common sight in retail parking lots. These units can serve as a visible deterrent to would-be thieves and provide much needed surveillance coverage in expansive parking lots where cameras might not be able to be located otherwise. 

Video analytics
Data is paramount in retail settings and this is especially true when it comes to understanding and monitoring customer behavior. Inside the store, loss prevention experts can leverage advanced video analytics to track suspicious behavior in real time. This can include tracking a customer who is spending a significant amount of time in a particular area prone to shoplifting, such as health and beauty departments, or by monitoring an individual with a backpack. Analytics can also be used to quickly identify a large group of people or to actively track an individual as that person moves throughout the store, enabling security teams to monitor both customers and employees for signs of theft or misconduct.

License plate recognition technology
To add an additional layer of security, loss prevention professionals are investing in license plate recognition systems to identify and then track known offenders before they even enter the store. By building databases of repeat offenders, retailers can proactively identify potential threats before an individual or group of individuals enter the store. This can enable the retail security team to take action early by monitoring those individuals more closely as they enter the store. 

Facial recognition technology
Along the same lines of license plate recognition (LPR) technology, facial recognition technology allows retailers to identify individuals with a history of theft or other crimes. Some retailers are using this technology to identify known offenders before they enter the store so that security can directly greet them, sending a clear message that they are being watched without causing alarm to other customers. This proactive approach can help deter potential theft incidents before they happen.

In this rapidly evolving landscape, a proactive, technology driven approach is key to maintain security and boost customer confidence. By leveraging advanced technology solutions like license plate recognition, facial recognition, mobile surveillance, and video analytics, loss prevention practitioners can address the pressing challenges of theft, shrinkage and other crime activities with minimal impact on the in-store experience for customers.