The annual NRF PROTECT conference was once again a big success, bringing together retail crimefighting professionals from around the world. The National Retail Federation always curates an impressive agenda, reflecting the broad range of experts in attendance.  In addition to retail leaders and their teams, there were police, prosecutors, lawmakers, academics and an impressive array of technology providers.

With our company Avery Dennison being the recognized market leader in the RFID intelligent labeling space, it is a natural instinct during NRF PROTECT to take stock of the community’s collective RFIQ. Do attendees have a proper working knowledge of RFID?  To what extent is RFID being discussed? And what degree of importance appears to be attached to it?

1. Prosecutors and Police want to see more retailers using RFID.   Those that know about RFID find it immensely helpful in uncovering, arresting and prosecuting resellers of stolen property and the organized gangs who travel the country stealing products. Members of San Francisco’s ORC Task Force were in attendance, along with an investigator from the District Attorney’s office. They are among the leaders operating with an exceptionally high RFIQ.

2. Serialization plus automation equals big opportunities. “DNA for Retail”, as some are calling it, is a huge leap forward. Serialization itself is not new. RFID makes it much more powerful by combining it with hyperefficient data capture, achieved via radio waves. This has unlocked new capabilities for day-to-day crime reduction and major investigations too. But there is a massive disconnect between the significance of this breakthrough and the scant attention it is receiving.  

3. Retail executives should view LP as a profit center not a cost center. When a retailer’s C-Suite executives treat their Loss Prevention organization as a source of cost, not a source of topline opportunity, the LP team’s challenge becomes harder. RFID creates new opportunities for Loss Prevention to create value. Increased inventory control enables a reduction in the amount of salesfloor merchandise locked up in cabinets. It also allows for much earlier discovery of theft events, enabling quicker restocking and immediate correction of the stock file. It’s as if the thief is instantly sending the retailer an itemized list of all the items they are taking — right down to the serial number — along with a selfie.

4. RFID is increasing the amount of goods returned to retailers by police. Retailers shared insights on how RFID is expediting the takedowns of “fence operators” (transporters and resellers of stolen goods). RFID is also fast tracking the return of their merchandise — not just the goods with RFID. Police often find other untagged merchandise on site belonging to the retailer.  

5. Loss Prevention is entering a new Golden Age.  Artificial intelligence and sensor technologies like computer vision and RFID are together enabling retail LP teams to stretch limited resources further, serving as a “force multiplier”. Intelligence-led and data driven, it is an exciting change in mindset and approach.  

6. Retailer ORC teams often know very little about RFID. If a retailer does not yet use RFID, its Organised Retail Crime (ORC) investigations team might not yet know much about its relevance to their mission. Even if the retailer is among the ones who do use RFID for inventory management, they may have not yet installed Smart Exits or similar solutions in their stores, making it harder to prove to police that a stolen product belongs to them.  

7. Misperceptions do not disappear overnight. Retailers’ Loss Prevention teams have often been peripheral to the RFID rollouts that have unfolded within their stores. This explains why many LP professionals remain unaware that RFID is even used today on inexpensive items like fishing hooks and crayons, plus products that once were considered hard to tag, like cosmetics or motor oil. Almost any consumer good is today a candidate for RFID.

8. Loss Prevention professionals are today more open to learning about RFID. Despite still being underutilized in the battle against retail crime, a clear positive is that, compared to 12 months ago, LP professionals seem to be much more eager to learn about RFID. 

Hats off to the National Retail Federation team for another excellent conference. The global Loss Prevention community is vibrant and highly collaborative. We at Avery Dennison are energized by the role we are playing as a trusted advisor in this space, all in furtherance of our mission of MAKING POSSIBLE™.