ABOUT ME
Preventing Theft in Retail Stores
Conceptualising a service that can help retail stores protect their assets and employees from theft induced losses by being more digitally and data driven.
Industry
Retail • Loss Prevention • Digital Transformation
Role
Service Designer, Globant
5 months
Expertise
Service Design
User Experience Design
Staying on top
A leader in the electronic article surveillance (EAS) industry wanted to innovate to maintain their position in the US retail loss prevention market.
The intention was to offer new solutions to their customers that would help them minimise shrink* by creating new offerings on top of their range of EAS devices (magnetic tags, scanners and cameras).
*'Shrink' is the loss of a retailer's inventory by causes such as shoplifting, employee theft, cashier or supplier error/fraud.
Today’s bricks-and-mortar retailers face a surfeit of challenges. Minimising shrink, optimising inventory and staff productivity are all critical in boosting store performance. How might we reduce stress for store managers when it comes to shrink?
We designed a solution that the industry now calls SMaaS or 'Shrink Management as a Service'.
It consists of a cloud-based solution that empowers store and security managers by providing detailed data, predictive analytics and shoplifting insights in a clear and user-friendly interface so that they can prepare well before any occurrence of theft.
The key aspects of the designed service were:
Loss Prediction and Insights
A dashboard lets managers view data and compare performance metrics by district, region and enterprise. This helps stores make effective data-driven decisions to improve bottom line and shrink results. By using data like store traffic, shrinkage and location, the system predict potential losses from a geographical perspective. Tools like organised retail crime maps, alerts about similar instances etc. help store owners gain awareness of issues in specific neighbourhoods.
Remote Management for Reduced Downtime
Smarter EAS devices that can be monitored remotely were designed and manufactured by the company. Automated monitoring improves uptime and notifications of repair/replace helps stores rectify exceptions fast. This reduces a manager's anxiety and time spent on the store's security hardware issues.
Flexible, Scalable System
The information architecture is built for growth so that regional managers can monitor many stores from the same interface. The interface is simple, clean and employs visual hierarchy principles so that users don't spend too much time finding the information they seek.
The solution is flexible enough to let stores leverage legacy systems and choose what integrations work best for the business.
Progress / Outcomes
Service Launched in 2018
The service was developed and launched in 2018.
Watch the video above to learn about the service offering and view the designed interface. Here's a few good press articles in Businesswire and PRnewswire about the launch.
Have a question? Get in touch.