Today we’re speaking with Keith Aubele, founder of Nav1gate Group, about the retail cyclone and how it’s driving retailers to massive growth or failure. We explore the unprecedented conditions creating this retail cyclone and how leaders are taking action to reduce the impact and leveraging technology to future-proof their approaches. Keith also outlines the challenges that LP, IT leaders and executives face. Join us as we discuss the conditions retailers face today and, in the future, and the critical technologies that can help them survive and thrive in this challenging environment.

 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

 

• [02:35] What is the retail cyclone?  
• [04:15] What are the impacts of the retail cyclone? What will it mean to the employee experience, customer experience and retail operations?
• [11:05] Which technologies should retailers embrace to enhance their performance in difficult times?
• [15:05] What challenges will asset protection and loss prevention teams face?
• [17:35] What will retail look like in five years? What are some significant changes that could drive us to the next frontier?
• [21:05] What advice would you give loss prevention and IT leaders as they face this cyclone head-on?

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

 

• Conditions such as labor shortages, increasing logistical costs, escalating inflation and rising fuel costs have come together at a single point in time. They are creating the retail cyclone, a cataclysmic occurrence that will impact retail today, tomorrow and in the future. 
• There is excessive cost inflation that retailers will have to pass along to consumers, and executives should prepare for this. 
• To reduce theft and ORC, retailers must make themselves a hard target through the use of people, technology and analytics. 
• Completely cashier-less stores are going to be the future. When retailers have fewer employees at the point of purchase, they increase the risk for loss. 
• Asset protection leaders must begin thinking today about how they will be impacted tomorrow. Within 3 to 5 years, the retailers will have more self-checkout positions than staff positions. 
• Frail operations today won't be able to withstand that cyclone. However, it will strengthen the steel of the top competitors that are already planning for worst-case scenarios, putting platforms and processes into place, and scaling back on their number one expense: labor costs. 

 

LINKS MENTIONED 

 

[email protected]

 

www.nav1gate.com

 

[email protected]

 

BIO: Keith Aubele

Keith Aubele CPP, LPP is the founder of the Nav1gate Group. He spent 25 years as a retail senior executive serving a long career at Walmart as the Director of Loss Prevention and then as the Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention & Risk for The Home Depot. Keith and his team led the organizations to the lowest shrink in their histories and improved profitability at both companies. Today, he partners with retailers and solution providers to help drive bottom-line profitability throughout the retail vertical.  He is a noted, retail subject matter expert, speaker, author and mentor.