Electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems have long been an essential part of most retailers’ loss prevention ecosystems. EAS was among the first loss prevention technologies to be broadly adopted by retailers and now, over six decades later, it is still as relevant and reliable as ever. But as organised retail crime (ORC) becomes more sophisticated and retail theft increases in North America, Latin America, parts of the Asia-Pacific region and in European countries like Germany and the UK, EAS is due for an evolution of its own.

Category Level Shrink Insights turns the existing EAS infrastructure retailers already have into a data-generation powerhouse, offering retailers and loss prevention leaders more tools, deeper insights and greater visibility into the impact shrink has on their bottom lines.

With it, retailers can craft targeted, data-driven loss prevention strategies that protect their merchandise more effectively, increase store safety and improve the customer experience. In short, it’s a major upgrade – that doesn’t put a major dent in retailers’ budgets.

While traditional EAS systems alarm at the exit when a potential theft occurs, Category Level Shrink Insights elevates their meaning across stakeholders. By delivering insights into the categories that drive shrink, when and where ORC patterns happen and how those thefts impact retailers’ bottom lines, Category Level Shrink Insights gives retailers new tools to understand and prevent shrink – with a simple upgrade to your existing EAS hardware.

Giving New Capabilities to Existing Infrastructure

By pairing existing Sensormatic AM infrastructure with advanced EAS technology at the exit and point of sale (POS), in addition to the tags and labels applied at the source, Category Level Shrink Insights maximises the capabilities of the hardware most retailers already have in place. It then leverages the newly upgraded technology stack to differentiate individual loss events based on merchandise categories defined by the retailer themselves.

Customisable Product Categories

These customisable merchandise categories are key to unlocking the value that Category Level Shrink Insights delivers. Because traditional shrink metrics are often limited to broad, alarm-event activity, they can mask deeper patterns in a retailer’s shrink. But when retailers are empowered to define their own product categories, new insights can emerge.

For example, traditional shrink metrics can tell a retailer that thefts occurred on a particular day, at a particular exit and how many times the system alarmed. But with the customisable categories offered by Category Level Shrink Insights, that retailer may discover that a certain brand or type of women’s clothing is the true driver of this increased shrink. Armed with this data, the retailer can adjust their loss prevention strategies to increase security near the most-stolen items or adjust their camera coverage to focus on the zones where these thefts occur.

Visualise the Impact Shrink has on Every Store – and Across the Company

When the data generated by Category Level Shrink Insights is paired with the cloud-based Shrink Analyzer application, retailers can visualise the direct impact of shrink on their bottom lines. They can also use the findings generated by Category Level Shrink Insights to view high-risk zones within stores and the leading theft categories for each store and the retail company.

ORC impacts retailers in every segment and of every size. In fact, 52% of U.S. retailers say they have witnessed year-on-year increases in thefts by ORC groups, while 43% say their own organisations lacked the loss protection resources to successfully combat it. But since the additional protection delivered by Category Level Shrink Insights does not require substantial purchases of new hardware, almost any retailer with a Sensormatic EAS system can gain an edge over ORC groups.

This is because the data delivered by Category Level Shrink Insights and Shrink Analyzer uses geo-mapping technology and video capabilities to provide better insights into theft events. With this data in hand, retailers can craft targeted loss prevention strategies that go beyond simply hiring additional store security.

Theft events often lead to out-of-stocks, which frustrate customers and damage brand perception. This is especially true of ORC-driven shelf sweeps that often leave entire shelves bare.

When paired with a robust Source Tagging programme, Category Level Shrink Insights can help to solve both problems at once. Source Tagging alleviates the need for time-intensive tagging by assistants and ensures that items arrive consistently and correctly tagged and ready for the sales floor. Items tagged at the source can be quickly detached at the point of sale, minimising both nuisance alarms and friction during the checkout process.

The end results of this powerful combination are items that arrive tagged correctly, a sales floor that is adequately staffed and shelves that remain stocked and ready for shoppers.

Retail crime of all types may be on the rise, but your spending doesn’t have to rise to meet it. Category Level Shrink Insights augments the capabilities of the EAS system you already have, delivering powerful new capabilities in the fight against shrink and ORC which enables retailers to gain:

• Store-level and company-wide insights into the drivers of shrink
• Powerful protection against increasingly sophisticated ORC groups
• Insight into high-risk zones and top theft categories
• New ways to improve the customer experience and enhance store safety

Unlock more value from the EAS infrastructure you already know and trust with Category Level Shrink Insights from Sensormatic Solutions. Get in touch today to find out how.