The loss prevention (LP) hurdles at the 2012 Olympics are among the topics at the Retail Fraud on the Road, in Leicester on Thursday, October 4. Speakers on the theme of the Games are Peter Bolton, Security Manager, McDonalds; Steve Middleton, Profit Protection Manager,The Body Shop; and Richard Smith, Profit Protection Operations Manager, Matalan. For the agenda for the day at Leicester City Football Club, visit the website of organisers Retail Knowledge.
These three retailers will offer their insight into the LP challenges of London 2012. Did the risk forecasts match the retailer expectation of higher footfall and store losses; did staff and supplies manage to get to the stores on time in and around the capital given the pressure on the roads? Peter Bolton for McDonalds will talk about the impact of being an official sponsor to the Games, while Steve Middleton (The Body Shop) and Richard Smith (Matalan) will offer their perspectives.
The conference chairman for the day is Prof Martin Gill, Director, Perpetuity Research, pictured. A morning masterClass will look at how deploying network video can act as both a profit protection measure and help retailers to generate revenue. Speakers are Atul Rajput, Retail Business Development Manager, Northern Europe, at network video product company Axis Communications; and Prof Joshua Bamfield, Director, Centre for Retail Research. Axis Communications recently commissioned a market research survey into the video CCTV that UK retailers are considering as part of loss prevention. Axis will be announcing the results of the survey at Retail Fraud On The Road.
Other speakers invited include Claire Rushton, Central Security Manager, ASDA, who will talk about how the supermarket chain has centralised its investigation teams. Historically, field based investigators sourced their own criminal cases autonomously. This has mainly been derived from process and policy knowledge, backed up with limited electronically source data. The retail chain has moved to centrally lead intelligence from a variety of trending filters.
Sarah Cork, Group Security Manager, JD Williams will speak on the direct home shopping retailer. And Louis Fouché, Audit Manager, at shirtmaker TM Lewin will talk about audit; how to protect the profits from malicious and non-malicious shrinkage. Stock accuracy lies at the heart of profit protection; accuracy of stock is fundemental to not only loss prevention, but merchandising, planning, buying and forecasting. Sock accuracy he argues facilitates prevention, and early detection of fraud as well as bookkeeping errors.
