Study Also Finds That Top Retailers Use Electronic Article Surveillance Three Times More than Underperforming Retailers
A recent study by RSR, “Loss Prevention and Beyond: Survival of the Fittest,” sponsored by Sensormatic Retail Solutions, revealed substantial differences between top retail performers - those whose sales growth outpace the 3% industry average - and retailers below that average. Findings indicate that 71% of all respondents said they frequently use exception analysis reporting - a key business intelligence tool - as a critical technology in their loss prevention (LP) arsenal (see chart below). Another finding is that nearly three times the number
of top performing retailers utilizes Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) technology as compared to underperformers.
With the troubled economic climate more retailers are seeking to improve their gross margin and reduce employee and customer shrink; thus fueling the need to leverage existing LP tools as well as invest in the latest technology. The reach and efficiency of traditional loss prevention tools like EAS anti-theft systems can be further extended and maximized by strategic deployments of store business intelligence platforms.
"Greater usage of business intelligence tools has improved the
efficiency of our other loss prevention technologies and
delivered a strong return on investment."
- David George, vice president of Asset Protection, Harris Teeter 
RSR conducted the online survey during September and October, 2008, including respondents from retailers with stores around the world. Among its findings:
- Employee theft of goods and cash are top retailer concerns, with internal theft as number one source of shrink, shoplifting second and internal theft of cash third.
- While almost half of top performers use EAS to control shrink, only 17% of underperformers use EAS.
- Top performers use business intelligence tools like returns and void management technologies 46% more than underperformers.
- 53% of all respondents cite better business intelligence as needed to make effective use of the vast amounts of loss prevention data that exists.
  Click a chart for a larger view
According to the report, this discovery was consistent with many other findings that top performers don’t merely do the same things better compared to underperformers, but they also tend to do different things: “(They) think differently, plan differently and respond differently.”
“In tough economic times, shrink continues to rise,” said Paula Rosenblum, RSR’s managing director and widely recognized as one of the top analysts in the retail industry. “With the slowing economy many retailers have cut back on staff and now will be relying on technology to help control theft. Smart, winning retailers know the best way to maximize profitability and improve shrink is to leverage existing assets and improve store intelligence.”
Rosenblum added, “Underperforming retailers are significantly behind winning retailers in investing in intelligent solutions. More compelling is that only 17% of underperforming retailers embrace EAS to protect their stores compared to 48% of winning retailers - a strong case for why underperformers are missing opportunities from new technology enablers.”
Sensormatic® Analytics powered by Retail Expert offers a comprehensive suite of store business intelligence solutions to provide retailers the means to measure their performance objective, manage their store operations and ultimately, improve their profitability and performance.
For a free copy of the report visit www.retailsystemsresearch.com.
For more information on Sensormatic® Analytics visit www.sensormatic.com/Products/StoreBusinessIntelligence2/SBI_home.aspx.
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Retail Systems Research (RSR) is the only research company run by retailers for the retail industry. RSR provides insight into business and technology challenges facing the extended retail industry, and thought leadership and advice on navigating these challenges for specific companies and the industry at large. To learn more about RSR, visit 
