RETAIL SAFETY DURING THE HOLIDAYS AND BEYOND

Learn about retailer challenges and how law enforcement technology could be used to help mitigate workplace violence and keep employees safe

BACKGROUND:
The busy holiday season is the most important time of year for retail stores. Unfortunately, a recent uptick in retail crime, especially theft, has put retailers on edge. According to the Retail Industry Leaders Association, organized retail crime costs retailers over $69 billion per year annually causing the loss of thousands of jobs through store closures and reduced hours.

Increasing crime is not only affecting retail profits but the mental health of employees as well. Axon, the technology leader in global public safety, recently surveyed 1,200 retail employees working in security, loss prevention, sales, service, support and more. The majority (51%) of respondents work at a retail business with a street-level storefront. Key findings from the survey include:

In-store workers are exposed to high crime rates:

• 64% of in-store sales, service, and support retail workers have experienced theft.
• 47% of in-store retail workers have seen or been the victim of physical or verbal violence on the job.
• 62% report harm to their mental health caused by violence at work.
• Theft is exceptionally high at hardware stores (88%), and violence is most prevalent at discount stores (68%).

Security staff are concerned about organized crime:

• 58% believe fighting organized retail crime should be a top priority in 2023.
• Organized crime is most common at discount stores (80%).

These study results show that new solutions to help keep workers safe and decrease retail crime are needed. Loss prevention and asset protection professionals rank both video surveillance technology (CCTV) and body-worn cameras in the top five most effective theft prevention measures.

Khris Hamlin discusses retailer challenges and some of the potential solutions, while Mike Shore shares Axon’s retail safety survey and suggest ways in which law enforcement technology may be used to help address these concerns.

For more information, please visit:
https://axon.com/retail
https://www.rila.org/rila-ndaa-vibrant-communities-initiative

MORE ABOUT MIKE SHORE:
Mike shore leads the Enterprise division of Axon, the leading provider of de-escalation devices and technology in public safety, including body-worn cameras, TASERs, and SaaS. Axon’s mission is to Protect Life, and Axon Enterprise is focused on extending our mission outside of public safety, specifically in Healthcare, Retail, and Private Security. Mike has a BA in Economics from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford.

MORE ABOUT KHRIS HAMLIN:
Khris Hamlin serves as Vice President of Asset Protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. In this role, Khris’s primary focus is to step-in to lead RILA’s AP Committees, support content development for the annual Retail AP Conference, and play a key role in priority initiatives like Vibrant Communities. Most recently Hamlin served as senior vice president of asset protection, inventory control, and dc/logistics operations in New York for Saks OFF 5TH, a premier destination for luxury off-price fashion. In this role, he led all corporate and store-level asset protection strategies, risk assessments, inventory control, strategic asset protection hiring, learning and development, risk mitigation, distribution center operations, transportation, and logistics, along with total team engagement. He also supported senior leadership as a member of the executive leadership team (executive committee). Hamlin helped drive the strategic planning process for risk management, and he developed objectives that provided operational leverage and industry-leading key performance indicators.

ABOUT AXON:
Axon is the technology leader in global public safety. Our moonshot goal is to cut gun-related deaths between police and the public in the U.S. by 50% before 2033. Axon is building the public safety operating system of the future by integrating hardware devices and cloud software solutions that lead modern policing, defense and security. The Axon ecosystem includes TASER energy devices, body-worn cameras, in-car cameras, cloud-hosted digital evidence management solutions, productivity software, real-time operations capabilities and third-party integrations through Axon's partner network. Axon's growing global customer base includes first responders across international, federal, state and local law enforcement, fire, corrections and emergency medical services, as well as the justice sector, commercial enterprises and consumers.

About Retail Industry Leaders Association:
RILA is the US trade association for leading retailers. We convene decision-makers, advocate for the industry, and promote operational excellence and innovation. Our aim is to elevate a dynamic industry by transforming the environment in which retailers operate. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $2.7 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs, and hundreds of thousands of stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

Produced for: Axon