Smarter Security, Smarter Stores: How AI and Cloud Technology Are Powering the Next Generation of Loss Prevention

How much of a retail security team’s day is spent chasing ghosts? The patterns are there, hidden within hours of video, thousands of point-of-sale (POS) transactions, and countless access logs. The problem isn't a lack of data; it’s that legacy systems make detective work slow and inefficient.

Thieves and organized retail crime rings thrive on this disconnect; it gives them more time to act while your team is reacting. Think about the time it takes to cross-reference reports and manually review footage, often hitting multiple locations before a pattern is ever pieced together.

There is a solution. Retailers are sitting on vast amounts of valuable data, from video to visitor and POS logs, but legacy systems keep them siloed. Anyone looking for patterns or anomalies will need to cross-reference multiple systems that gather data for hours each day, sometimes across multiple in-store locations.

However, artificial intelligence-powered, cloud-based unified security platforms are reshaping how retailers prevent loss and protect assets. By bringing systems together, and adding automation and AI, retailers can move from reactive to predictive strategies.

The Expanding Threat Landscape

Shoplifting incidents have surged 93 percent since 2019. Retailers lost $121.6 billion to theft in 2023, and this is projected to reach $150 billion-plus by 2026. Some big chains have even blamed store closures on an epidemic of shoplifting

But this isn’t just opportunistic in nature. There's a rise in organized retail crime (ORC) and not just in-store — 58 percent of ORC losses involve cargo theft.

This rise in retail crime has consequences, too. One report found that 84 percent of retailers are concerned about violence towards staff — and many are taking action, with 70 percent of retailers increasing budgets for workplace violence training. And, of course, there are internal threats to contend with. One estimate puts employee theft as responsible for around 30 percent of all shrinkage.

The Case for a Unified, Centralized Platform

A unified platform can help. Retailers often have the pieces of the puzzle, but they aren’t connected together. By integrating everything from access control and video surveillance to POS and transaction information, it provides a single, clear view to enable rapid investigation of specific incidents and uncover ongoing threats.

Bringing systems together means total visibility across an entire operation, from stores to the supply chain. This eliminates dangerous blind spots, enables faster incident response, and empowers swift, forensic-grade investigations.

Of course, a wealth of available data makes this possible — but it doesn’t make it easy. The right tools will help make sense of this data so you can take action.

Real-Time Intelligence: AI and Automation in Action

AI works better the more data it has. With data from access management, video, stock management and elsewhere, AI-powered platforms can better detect anomalies that should trigger a real-time response, or patterns that demand an investigation.

AI can take a single trigger — e.g., one door left open, one odd transaction — and launch an investigation across video, access logs, and POS. Based on its knowledge and learning, it can then flag this to a human for more detailed scrutiny. It can also model behavior and then detect anomalies of what's outside of that behavior.

By identifying possible incidents, and alerting security staff, retailers can respond in real time and also identify issues that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Integration and automation provide tangible benefits to fitness chains, for instance. They can automatically grant or revoke facility access based on membership status, removing the need for manual intervention and ensuring only authorized members are on-site.

For retailers with multiple locations, integrating cloud access control with video allows them to dynamically manage hundreds of delivery drivers. This creates complete visibility, making it easy to track shipments and securely receive them even after hours. Furthermore, unified platforms can dramatically reduce investigation times from weeks to mere minutes. Such efficiency is vital when police require evidence for an arrest or when an internal employee case needs a swift and fair resolution.

The Business Case: Shrink Reduction Meets ROI

For retailers, leveraging data isn't just about financial returns; it's about creating a smarter, more efficient operation.

The most obvious financial impact is reduced shrinkage, one of the biggest problems retailers must deal with — you can’t sell something if you don’t have it. However, it also makes financial sense to spend less time on investigations. There's also no need to throw bodies at the problem of shoplifting; instead, on-site staff can be more strategically deployed.

Furthermore, a cloud-native system means physical security can be managed remotely from a central, unified platform. Need to give a maintenance team access to a warehouse or move staff between local outlets on short notice? This can be done simply and from anywhere in the world.

Retailers are sitting on valuable data that could solve their shoplifting problem — they just need to pry it out of siloes and get it working together.

Michael Noonan is the director for the global accounts team with Brivo, a global leader in cloud-based security technology.