LP: The Great Game of Whack-a-mole and How to Win

Telaid was proud to attend LPRC Ignite last week in Florida, where we were able to collaborate with leaders in loss prevention on the most vexing loss prevention and security challenges. Violent crimes and organized retail crime (ORC) are surging, creating urgency around retailers’ fight to protect people, property and assets. According to the National Retail Federation 2020 Organized Retail Crime Survey, an astounding 57% of respondents said that ORC gangs are exhibiting more aggression and violence than they did last year.

As retailers expand omnichannel options like  BOPIS,  robotic package retrieval and online purchasing, ORC  has similarly evolved, developing new theft methods.  Much like a game of whack-a-mole, as quickly as  retailers effectively combat losses in one particular  setting, new crime methods rear their ugly heads in  another.

LPRC Ignite presented an opportunity for retailers, solution providers and thought leaders in retail LP/AP to meet, discuss these challenges, hear from experts about trends, and map out potential research trials to inform best practices moving forward.

A particularly inspiring presentation was made by Director, Entrepreneurship Program – UF Warrington College of Business, Jamie Kraft, and Clinical Associate Professor, Warrington, Alex Settles. Kraft and Settles spoke about the benefits of leveraging creativity to solve emerging LP challenges. With a great deal of history and knowledge, LP teams can fall into the trap of building a box of limitations within which they problem-solve. It’s easy to do, as we all attack problems via experience and, as a result, work within a framework of assumptions that we may not recognize.

However, the speakers argued that big problems deserve big creativity and that brainstorming without boundaries generates seeds of creativity that can grow into new and very effective solutions. Think about Amazon: they dared to brainstorm how to sell books without selling physical books and Amazon Kindle was born. By allowing seemingly unorthodox or “crazy” ideas to surface in brainstorming sessions, you can tap into creativity and new ideas that fall outside solutions that have been tried before.

This type of approach can also be very effective when considering applications for physical security technologies and their role in preventing theft. Telaid has worked with retailers to deploy creative solutions to halt ORC in their warehouses and the back of the house.

As you look to implement new loss prevention strategies in 2022, engage in a conversation with us so we can brainstorm new and effective ways to help you win your organization’s game of LP whack-a-mole.