Organized crime versus casual shoplifting
UK is reeling under a wave of shoplifting – at an average of 1000 incidents per day, crime rates are growing exponentially, costing the industry billions of pounds in losses. Irrespective of the size of operations, retail stores are frantically seeking ways to stop this dangerous trend, which also impacts the security and well-being of their store staff.
Who's stealing?
Organized crime is a problem for any industry and law enforcement needs to take cognizance and initiate corrective action. Crime syndicates are constantly being watched by the police and as a result their share of the spoils is largely contained.
If this indeed is the case, how can the ever-increasing rate of retail crime be explained? After closer scrutiny of the current trends in retail shrinkage, an alarming scenario is emerging in shoplifting – the unassuming middle class, who represent the largest group of consumers for retail chains, are increasingly engaging in shoplifting. Retail major Co-op is already in the process of rolling out a Visual AI solution across their network of stores to crack down on shoplifting carried out by the middle class (see news).
How trouble starts
One of the primary drivers for introducing self-checkout (SCO) counters at retail stores was to save time spent in long queues at the retail store counters. However, this also meant that the billing depends entirely on the customer scanning all the items themselves. The retail industry thus placed a tremendous amount of trust on their largest pool of customers – the middle class.
From casual errors to habitual shoplifting
Barcode scanning has its own share of woes – even at staffed counters, the store staff are frequently seen replacing similar items which could not be scanned. When the same scenario plays out at a self-checkout counter, the customer does not have the patience or willingness to go back to respective aisle and get a replacement that can be scanned. As a result, the unbilled item eventually ends up in the customer’s cart.
This one-off incident mostly goes unnoticed and even when the staff becomes aware, they do not intervene due to reasons ranging from the prospect of losing the customer to concerns about their own safety.
Feeling that one can get away with a few unbilled items
What typically starts as a scanning issue or as a plain oversight about missed scans, quickly transforms into a firm belief that as a customer, one will never get caught for a few unbilled items. This is setting a dangerous precedent – bad behaviour which is not stopped at the first instance becomes an excuse or encouragement for customers to repeat their actions.
| Cause of Loss | Customer Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Incorrect Scans | The customer deliberately weighs lower priced products. |
| Product Switching | The customer uses the barcode of different product to avoid paying the actual price of the product. |
| Product Stacking | The customer places multiple items in a stack and scans the barcode of only the items placed at the top. |
| Missed Scans | The customer fails to scan items from the cart or moves items over the scanner in such a way that they are not scanned. |
| Non-Payment | The customer walks out without finalizing the payment for the items scanned. |
Visual AI to the rescue
Visual AI which adds a layer of intelligence to a store’s existing CCTV installation is proving to be a great tool for retailer looking to stem the losses from shoplifting.
As Visual AI can identify several theft patterns such as time, frequency, location, items, types of concealment, and theft, it enhances the store security and staff’s ability to quickly identify, respond and stop incidents from escalating in a timely manner and stopping the bad behaviour as and when it occurs. A Visual AI solution which can also provide video footage of events, can minimize customer disputes at the retail stores.
In addition to such capabilities, SAI Group’s Visual AI solution can identify product switching, product stacking, partial and non-payment incidents at the self-checkout counters and instantaneously nudge the customer to take corrective action.
Additionally, SAI Group’s Visual AI solution can provide consolidated footage – at the press of a button – which can be submitted to law enforcement, thus saving valuable time and effort spent in sifting through hours and hours of footage - creating efficiency and assisting store staff in reporting such evidence in a timely and efficient manner.
SAI Group provides Visual AI, data analytics, intuitive dashboards, and robust reporting capabilities to three of the top five retail companies in the UK. Contact us today, if you are on the lookout for a Visual AI solution that provides almost immediate return on investment.
About SAI
As a leader in computer vision technology, SAI Group delivers cutting-edge, multi-modal AI solutions into retail environments. Using a unique platform approach, its technology uses existing camera systems to target losses, increase store safety, and underpin operational efficiencies.
All solutions are built from the ground up to ensure the highest levels of security and data protection, respecting the privacy expectations of the public and operating to stringent ethical standards while delivering substantial value to our clients. Globally, SAI monitors millions of transactions per day, protecting the revenues from tens of millions of product sales and hundreds of millions of customer interactions. Its models also accurately identify anti-social behaviour, aggression and violence, helping to de-escalate situations with real-time interfaces to security officers and operations centres.
