Retailers were urged at the annual Retail Automation Conference to
share more crime incident data with others in the industry to help
to protect against growing levels of robbery, burglary and
assault.
Bill Briggs, group securities operations manager at electronics
retailer Dixons, said protecting against losses should not be a
competitive issue. "Our own loss prevention information can only
take us so far," he said. "Selling for profit is a competitive
issue but protecting our profit from crime should not be."
Briggs, who is chairman of the data and information group at the
British Retail Consortium, said the industry body is planning to
re-launch its National Retail Crime database next month, to make it
easier for retailers to share crime incident data.
"It is an absolute must for all retailers to join the database," he
said. "The more information is on there, the better it will be for
all of us."
Sharing data can help retailers to identify particular trends and
take counter-measures, Briggs said. "For example, when mobile phone
retailers began suffering a number of devastating burglary attacks
in June last year they shared their incident information and, as a
result, were able to justify substantial spending on
countermeasures," he said.