How Market 24 Saw a Sharp Decrease in Shrink
PITTSBURGH — Market 24, a 20-store western Pennsylvania convenience store chain, has seen a sharp decrease in shrink, as well as more efficient store operations, since instituting a new loss prevention analytics system this past July.
Loss Prevention Analytics is part of a suite of technology solutions from Petrosoft Inc., a Pittsburgh-based technology firm that initially developed a cloud-based back-office software solution in 2002.
Loss Prevention Analytics was created to reduce operational risk by taking advantage of operational retail data and advances in technology. The development of the solution was furthered by the CEO of Petrosoft who applied his experience and knowledge as the CEO of SG II Group LLC, which operates the Market 24 convenience store chain.
"Loss prevention has historically been focused on being reactive after the loss or problem occurs, not proactive," said Sergey Gorlov, Petrosoft's CEO. "Loss Prevention Analytics can efficiently detect any potential problem, from internal to external operational issues."
HOW IT WORKS
Loss Prevention Analytics automatically combines different sources of information, such as transactional and video data, then analyzes the combined information, sets rules, and produces documentation and reports for prevention, early detection, investigation and prosecution.
It integrates with in-store technology and includes a cloud-based interface, enabling retailers from any location to quickly drill down into reports and click-through to review flagged transactions and gain additional knowledge through the associated tagged video footage. Retailers can filter by date, location, employee, item, risk event or type of transaction, as well as create custom filters.
"Loss Prevention Analytics is an amazingly helpful feature to learn much more about your store operations than you probably want, as it will show you all critical transactions where owners usually lose money," said Iryna Maskaliova, who manages retail operations for Market 24.
THE RESULTS
Since installing Loss Prevention Analytics, Market 24 has seen its shrink ratio reduced from 1.2 percent of sales to 0.6 percent. This compares to an industry average of 1.23 percent globally, and 1.27 percent in North America, according to The New Barometer Report.
In addition, since using the system, the number of voids at the point-of-sale at each Market 24 location has been reduced by 90 percent, Gorlov noted. Other benefits realized include more efficient age verification compliance, improved employee training, and internal controls.
Petrosoft, which sold 80 Loss Prevention Analytics systems to retailers of all sizes in the first two months of its launch, also recently introduced Retail360. This cloud-based solution designed to streamline retail back-office operations was showcased at January's NRF Big Show in New York.
Retail360 integrates with legacy systems to leverage existing data, while also providing the flexibility to enrich retail operations no matter how complex the business model or how geographically dispersed the company's operations, said Petrosoft.