Combating retail theft has always been a challenge. Retailers often resign themselves to accept a certain amount of it as a cost of doing business, which eventually gets passed on to the consumer. But in parallel with the rise of new retail experiences that are increasingly cashless and contactless, incidences of in-store theft are also rising. However, this is changing with the aid of new AI acceleration technologies and techniques that can isolate, identify, monitor and alert retail organizations to theft problems. And retail vendors are realizing the benefits.
Historically, plain-clothes officers and video surveillance have been the classic deterrents to inventory shrinkage linked to employee theft or shoplifting, which according to the National Retail Security Survey reached an all-time high in 2021. The same study found that most retailers surveyed reported that incidents of in-store, ecommerce and omnichannel fraud had risen, and that organized retail crime — violent incidents in particular — are increasing.