New software integrates electronic point of sale (EPOS) and CCTV, creating a visual audit trail of staff working on tills.
The British Retail Consortium has recently reported that shrinkage represented 1.5 per cent of retail turnover last year. Half of this figure was attributed to human error, such as giving too much change to customers, or deliberate acts of dishonesty by employees. A recent survey of national retail losses, by the Centre for Retail Research found that staff shrinkage in the UK is the highest in Europe, accounting for 36.8 per cent of retail losses. The European average is 29.8 per cent of retail losses caused by employees’ dishonesty.
The software creators Overtis say their product VigilancePro Retail combats staff shrinkage by monitoring each key press on EPOS devices and linking this with CCTV, to create an audit trail of all activity at payment points. For example, repeated void transactions or refunds will create an alert on the system. The software can maximise retailer investment by integrating easily with analytics and data warehouse systems and supporting a range of EPOS and CCTV hardware.
Centralised management from the VigilancePro server allows reports to be automatically run and sent to the appropriate people. Irregular EPOS activity is flagged to management, with real-time links to EPOS screen shots and CCTV images, so security staff can respond to incidents as they are occurring. The software can also be used to add a “panic” button to the EPOS application, so that staff can call for aid if they are put under duress or challenged by customers.
Commenting on the launch
Ed Macnair, CEO of Overtis said: “While recent figures show that the UK has the highest levels of retail staff dishonesty in Europe, shrinkage is a global problem, costing the sector millions of pounds every day. VigilancePro Retail tackles these losses by identifying dishonest behaviour at the earliest opportunity. By linking EPOS activity with camera images, shrinkage can be pinpointed to individuals, providing visual evidence of any attempts to defraud the retailer.” The software is distributed worldwide by Overtis distribution partners.
