Research papers

Research paper

Foreword Across the globe, many retailers are experiencing rising and increasingly complex forms of criminal activity. At the same time, stores and supply chains are becoming more technologically enabled and

Research paper

Foreword Our previous reports have called out the scale and nature of the problem of wrong inventory records. In this new report, we aimed to go further by asking a

Research paper

Foreword We have been studying self-checkouts for over a decade. Our research in 2018, was the first published data on the scale and nature of losses retailers can expect, based

Research paper

Foreword: How to Reduce Inventory Inaccuracy Retailers make substantial investments in forecasting and replenishment systems; nevertheless, our research consistently indicates that over sixty percent of inventory records contain inaccuracies. This

Research paper

Foreword In retail, over 60% of inventory records in any one store have been found to be wrong, and when they are corrected and “trued up”, sales can grow by

Research paper

ECR Foreword and Acknowledgements Design against shoplifting is growing into a big business. To protect their profits, retailers spend billions on technologies, fixtures and packaging to deter those that might

Research paper

Return fraud and abuse isn’t one problem — it’s two. This research separates opportunistic misuse from deliberate deception, then maps the tactics spreading online. It closes with practical guidance on governance, joined-up data and frontline checks that slow repeat offenders without punishing honest customers in the process.

Research paper

Internal theft is a major driver of unknown loss, yet most cases go undetected. This report explains the “98% problem” and shows how internal communications can shift behaviour at scale. It summarises evidence from retailer trials (including shrink reductions) and shares five winning campaign concepts and poster approaches developed with Loughborough Business School to help dissuade theft and collusion without damaging workplace culture.

Research paper

Foreword Food waste reduction is a priority for all food retailers, in all parts of the world. This study was commissioned to bring new insights as to the cost of

Research paper

Foreword What you cannot see, you cannot manage. Today, retailers have very limited visibility to the age of the inventory in their supply chain or perhaps most critically, on the

Research paper

A Food Surplus Management Maturity Model in Retail: Where is Your Business? Our food surplus management in retail research discovered varying levels of maturity across the different areas we explored in

Research paper

Foreword Food waste reduction is a priority for retailers, in all parts of the world. This global study on food surplus management in retail was commissioned to bring new insights

Research paper

Foreword Elevated criminal risks in and around bricks and mortar stores can make it difficult to operate safely and profitably in some locations. The report, Fortress Stores: Keeping the Most

Research paper

Towards a shrinking KPI Retail shrinkage is the difference between the stock a retailer expects to have and what they actually have when they count it. It is one of

Research paper

Foreword This is ECR Retail Loss’ second report on video analytics in retail  focussed upon the extent to which retailers have deployed or are thinking about using a range of