Shoplifting

According to the National Retail Security Survey from 2023, the average retail shrink rate increased to 1.6%, up from 1.4% in the year before. That represents $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, 65% of which were caused by theft, including organized retail crime (ORC). These alarming statistics call for immediate action and cutting-edge solutions that prevent shoplifting and increase the security and safety of employees and customers.

"Minimizing the retail industry's current crime and safety issues in the US and worldwide is crucial. To do that, retail operators need innovative solutions to these problems," commented Paul Gain, platform development veteran and President of RaptorVision, a video analytics and data software development company. According to Gain, the escalation of ORC and shoplifting events is driven mainly by the lack of advanced technology and integrated tech-savvy security systems.

Gain and RaptorVision's CEO, Scott Mullins, with combined decades of experience in retail security and technology, noticed that retail operators have yet to maximize the opportunity to integrate their existing technology investments so that they can communicate with each other and notify employees of a potential crime in real-time. Aiming to solve the industry's problems and address the pressing needs of retail workers, RaptorVision developed a purpose-built, event-based product engagement platform for merchandise institutions.

In comparison to other existing surveillance systems, RaptorVision's product engagement platform is purpose-built to enhance the customer experience, improve employee safety, and increase profits. Analyzing, collecting, and comparing data is paramount to running any successful business, including the retail industry. RaptorVision patented an event-based data capture approach that provides invaluable insight into how tens of thousands of customers interact with products and which items they reach for the most. These statistics are crucial in perfecting effective business operations and marketing strategy decisions.

Using behavioral analysis, the RaptorVision platform can detect suspicious actions and notify employees of potential shoplifting or ORC events live. By analyzing someone's engagement with products, their movements, and any activities, RaptorVision detects crime before it happens. The RaptorVision approach focuses solely on the behavior and product engagement events of a customer, taking race, age, gender, and other factors out of the equation. RaptorVision provides an objective view of a company's operations, maximizing its loss prevention potential while increasing customer experience, revenue, and employee safety.

The platform is easy to implement, provides enterprise scalability, leverages existing technology, and eliminates the need to replace existing systems, making it cost-effective. Tackling the communication issue between systems, RaptorVision enables multi-location retail operations to exchange actionable data efficiently.

Crime in retail organizations takes a toll on profits and revenue and presents a significant risk to employees and customers. 88% of retailers said thieves were more violent in 2023 than in 2022. Aiming to increase workers' safety, RaptorVision's platform enables employees to receive real-time push notifications about a crime from a safe digital distance, giving them the time to alert security and law enforcement.

The system offers data capture and aggregation, crime report generation, and product engagement-based analysis via a dashboard that spans multiple locations. Not only does this deter crime in real time while increasing the safety of customers and employees, but it also allows for unique data on how customers interact with products. RaptorVision utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies, providing an end-to-end integrated solution for retailers grappling with the hurdles of retail operations.

"Although dealing with violent crimes is not in every retailer's job description, most of them are often faced with the challenge," expresses Gain. "Shoplifters get more violent and greedy as the years go by, posing a serious threat to employees and customers. RaptorVision lets retailers track activities on a mobile device and sends live push notifications about a potential crime or customers in need of sales assistance. We genuinely believe RaptorVision's new platform is perhaps the most innovative solution to addressing these retail industry challenges, providing valuable product engagement data and actionable insights not previously available to operators."