Cameras don’t solve on-shelf availability—but they support it.

Daniel Corsten joins Colin Peacock to discuss the latest ECR Retail Loss research and explains why shelf image technology is best seen as an enhancer, not a silver bullet.

Supported by case-studies, he explores how retailers are using robots, badges, and fixed cameras to complement—not replace—traditional ways to measure on shelf availability.

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Criminologist Joe Clare shares practical lessons from ECR Retail Loss’s recent returns fraud research, revealing how a small group of repeat offenders can drive the bulk of losses. Even though 14% of all customers admit to doing it.

Clothing dominates, but camping gear and electronics are also potential targets.

He discusses with Colin Peacock how profiling, policy changes, and strategic tagging can disrupt this pseudo-rental behaviour—without damaging the customer experience.

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Despite being the cheapest option for food redistribution, less than a quarter of major retailers donate surplus food to their store colleagues.

Colin Peacock and ECR Retail Loss’s expert food waste advisor Richard Thalemann explain how one retailer overcame fraud fears, tax headaches and tech hurdles to build a safe, scalable solution that’s a potential blueprint for others to follow.

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Some retailers report up to a 25% shrink reduction when they use face recognition.

In this episode, Colin and Emmeline explore how stores across the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand are deploying biometric recognition—mostly for watchlist alerts—but also for access control and retrospective investigations.

They also tackle the legal, regulatory and ethical issues that retailers the world over are discussing with policymakers.

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Is pay-at-pump a quick fix or a false promise? How can retailers reduce drive-offs and maintain supplementary spending?

Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to examine the evolving tactics retailers are using to fight forecourt losses.

From digital reporting platforms to the strategic use of ANPR, the episode sheds light on how tech, training, and smarter reporting are reshaping the future of forecourt security.

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This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Michael Townsley to reflect on ECR Retail Loss’s first-ever meeting focused on benchmarking KPIs for e-commerce loss — an increasingly vital yet under-defined area of retail loss prevention.

Drawing on insights from six global retailers, they explore how different teams are measuring key metrics like acceptance rates, chargebacks, returns disputes, and fraud — often using different language to describe the same problems.

Their discussion also highlights the gap between malicious and non-malicious losses, and the importance of creating a unified framework for tracking both.

With the goal of building clear benchmarks for the industry, they highlight the need for deeper collaboration, better data, and more interventions to tackle e-commerce loss.

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This week, Colin Peacock and Professor Emmeline Taylor discuss the evolving role of security officers in retail.

And how training, integration, and investment can significantly enhance their impact - to reduce losses.

Drawing on insights from over 70 retailers and expert presentations, the discussion highlights the importance of moving beyond a more procurement-based view of hourly guarding towards one where security officers provide multiple benefits with clear KPI’s.

From customer service to crime deterrence, the pair conclude that the right training and support can transform the role of security officers into a central part of store safety and performance.

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This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Emmeline Taylor to explore how retailers are evolving their Security Operations Centres (SOCs) into powerful hubs for crime prevention, safety, and store support.

Based on insights from a benchmark study of 29 retailers and a live case study, they discuss how SOCs are being used for everything from live incident response and evidence gathering to virtual store audits and lone-worker protection. They reflect on how SOCs can help reduce losses, support staff morale, and even improve relationships with local police forces.

As the technology capabilities explode and use cases multiply, they discuss how SOCs are becoming essential tools in creating safer, more efficient, and more resilient retail operations.

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This week, Colin Peacock and Professor Emmeline Taylor zoom in on the often-overlooked issue of cash loss in retail.

They reflect on how internal theft, counterfeit currency, and operational inefficiencies all contribute to losses, and how a mix of simple process changes and smarter, tech-driven solutions are helping retailers halve their cash losses in a matter of months.

From training and cultural change to intelligent detection and exception reporting, the session offers practical steps to better manage cash loss in today’s retail landscape.

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This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Michael Townsley from Griffith University to focus on a case study: looking at one major e-commerce retailer’s journey to build a global digital loss prevention capability.

They reflect on how the smart framing of fraud as a “lost sale” helped engage multiple internal stakeholders, and how serious investment in data collection and analysis has driven impressive improvements — including a jump in order acceptance rates and millions in recovered revenue.

They also look at emerging risks like account takeovers, crypto payments, and AI-enabled scams, and how retailers must stay agile as bad actors evolve.

If improving digital loss prevention is in your remit, check out this week’s podcast.

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