Feature
LOSS PREVENTION AT
YOUR CONVENIENCE
Retail Fraud talks to Geoffrey Northcott of TLPC who
wants to introduce a new outsourced model of loss
prevention to target the legion of small & midsized
retailers and convenience stores
THE world’s largest retailers all Convenience
have loss prevention departments stores are
of varying sizes to deal with the increasingly
$98 billion worth of shrink the targeted
global industry suffered last year.
The more organised among
them collaborate and share
information with the police to try
and defeat a common enemy, but
they still work largely in silos,
restricted by commercial
sensitivities and data protection
legislation from exchanging too
much information. Meanwhile the
cost of shrink is likely to continue
to rise with the recession as is the
cost of technology to beat the
criminals.
A cycle emerges. When the loss
prevention team is successful in
displacing criminals to another nature has traditionally been the protection function, particularly in
store or town, they are rewarded preserve of an in-house team that the SME store environment, where
by their lords and masters who cut understand the culture and the thieves displaced from larger
their budgets because they are dynamic of the brands concerned. retailers with large LP budgets end
deemed to have won that battle. That is until now. up returning to as the point of
And so it goes on…. Geoffrey Northcott is well known least resistance.
The situation is even worse in in the book retailing world as the The concept is fairly simple 50%
the SME & convenience sector head of loss prevention for of field LP managers time is down
where the cost of professional risk Borders, but he also performs this time. By sharing the field team
managers is perceived as function for (I am not looking after resource or supplementing existing
prohibitive and the store Foyles I am looking after Quality in house resource more time can be
managers are also shelf stackers, Save supermarkets) and stationers spent in store and less time and
book keepers and loss prevention Paperchase through a vehicle of his cost travelling.
managers. The hours are long and own design, The Loss Prevention “Around 80 per cent of external
the losses are high when the only Company Ltd. theft is about supporting a life
tool in the way of a determined Northcott, who spent many years style. Organised crime is not about
thief is a grainy CCTV image of the in a loss prevention function with Godfathers but low to mid level
alleged perpetrators. Sainsbury’s, Toys R Us and Sports criminality on a local level. If every
Outsourcing is a function Division and has worked all over shop keeper reported every crime
normally associated with IT or the world, has set up TLPC as a to the police you would simply
payroll. Loss prevention by its very model for outsourcing the profit destroy their official crime figures –
18 • RETAIL FRAUD
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