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Pressure on margins is changing Security Strategy on the High Street.


Corporates can benefit too. T


he latest crime figures from the BRC, British Retail Consortium, can only have


added to the gloom in the retail sector, along with the news on HMV, Jessops and Comet. The cost of crime rose significantly again last year, according to the BRC Retail Crime Survey 2012, rising by 15.6 per cent, to an overall cost of £1.6 billion – with spend on crime and loss prevention climbing by 7.1 per cent, to a median expenditure of £750,000 for each of the major retail organisations surveyed.


Systematic targeting of higher value retail goods by organised criminals has pushed up the cost of crime. This has required an increasingly targeted approach to security, to protect the most vulnerable products, such as, alcohol, meat, cheese and coffee in the case of supermarkets.


With retail margins under unrelenting pressure, leading discount chains and other major retailers are changing their security strategy. From simply providing a safe environment for staff and customers, the priority is increasingly a focus on loss protection and maximising the ROI (Return on Investment) from security.


In the corporate sector, too, property directors and facility managers of financial and other city-based services companies are starting to look for a similar level of performance and accountability from their security provision.


The new strategy is differentiated by its ‘holistic’ approach to securing people and assets. Security is recognised as an integral part of the business process: in the case of retail sector, it runs through the supply chain, to the arrival of goods in-store and to the point of sale. It encompasses staff, customers and suppliers alike, in addition to products, buildings and on-site facilities..


A key component of the approach is the blend of a range of security services needed to reduce both losses to theft and the cost of protection. The mix comprises guarding, investigations, CCTV technology and civil recovery proceedings; in the latter case to use


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civil law remedies as an extra deterrent and also help meet internal costs of investigation, apprehension and disruption to the business.


A high level of management information is required to measure performance in the operation of a programme of this range and complexity. This is provided by regular reporting on agreed financial and incident KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) with data that is monitored and analysed at a central hub, collected from branch locations and civil recovery proceedings.


Wilkinson Hardware Stores


With £1.5 billion retail sales annually, Wilkinson Hardware Stores Ltd in 2012 commissioned the first stage in a remote monitoring and ‘intelligence’ network operated by Lodge Service. The programme is set to reduce the cost of store security by an estimated 50 per cent, and increase return on investment in deterrence, detection and civil recovery by up to 40 per cent.


Intelligence gathered in the network hub in Accrington, Lancashire, is provided by remote surveillance of in-store CCTV, together with information from security guarding, investigations, staff screening and other personnel services.


Mick Phipps, head of loss prevention at Wilkinson, says, “The network has been


designed to provide much more than traditional CCTV monitoring. The software platform allows us to connect all areas of our business nationally in a comprehensive loss prevention strategy. From distribution centre to the retail selling space, we are able to use technology to deliver a clear return on investment, whilst ensuring the safety of our staff and customers and the protection of assets.”


For lone-worker, driver-controlled deliveries out of hours, staff at the Accrington hub can track each delivery vehicle throughout the journey from the warehouse. The arrival of goods at the store is monitored on live CCTV; internal alarms in access areas and loading bays are switched off remotely and spaces illuminated, whilst a ‘man down’ device offers additional worker protection during unloading. The process is reversed and the area locked down securely when the delivery is completed.


“The new infrastructure can provide warning and aversion of threats through the provision of real time data to managers gathered centrally. So overnight or each morning we can deploy security staff and deal with any issues for that day. The database of shared information enables a fast, targeted and


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