INDUSTRY NEWS
LPRC Members Converge on Seattle to Tour Amazon and Microsoft
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contingent of twenty-five members of the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), representing fifteen different retailers, spent two days in early August touring one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers and Microsoft’s Retail Experience Center. The trip was headed by the LPRC’s research director, Dr. Read Hayes, and Tom Meehan, corporate manager of data, systems, and central investigations for Bloomingdale’s and chair of the LPRC’s Future of LP working group. LPRC member Checkpoint facilitated the tours.
The Tours
The tour at Amazon provided the group with a start-to-finish look at the company’s fulfillment process. Starting with receipt and inventory of incoming merchandise to picking orders to boxing and shipping, the use of technology was evident. Product is scanned either by hand or automatically at multiple points to ensure inventory accuracy and correct routing of orders. Throughout the operation, various robotic technologies were in use primarily moving merchandise in and out of storage as needed for customer orders. The Amazon facility was tightly controlled for both security and safety, with cell phones and cameras not permitted. Multiple metal detectors were used for both visitors and employees entering or exiting the building. Safety vests were worn by the tour members.
Vests, eye protection, gloves, and other safety equipment were used by employees throughout the facility. Amazon’s loss prevention team coordinated the tour. At Microsoft’s Retail Experience Center, housed in a nondescript office building without signage, the company has essentially built a retail mall inside the facility. Marty Ramos, CTO, worldwide retail, consumer products, and services for Microsoft, provided the visitors with a lively, energetic tour highlighting numerous technologies currently in use by retailers worldwide. The demo center featured full-size retail stores and kiosks representing multiple retail environments from coffee shops to electronics stores to apparel, cosmetics, and even convenience stores. Dozens of technologies were in use for customer service, merchandising, retail operations, as well as loss prevention, including Bluetooth and audio beacons, WiFi location tracking, RFID EAS gates, virtual mirrors, mobile POS, facial recognition, and many more.
Future of LP Working Group
In addition to the tours, the group spent a half day at the headquarters of Outerwall, the company behind Red Box® movie and video rental kiosks, Coinstar® coin-counting kiosks, and ecoATM® device-recycling kiosks. The time was spent primarily by the Future of LP working group members discussing the deliverables they wanted to achieve.
The LPRC’s Future of LP working group is developing research topics to help address challenges associated with the rapidly changing retail environment such as RFID, e-commerce fraud, and omnichannel retailing. 72
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The discussion centered on a wide range of topics, including: Partnering with delivery service providers such as UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service to investigate claims Issues around labelling privacy and security tape or other identifiers of high-value shipments The value of RFID and the skill sets necessary to analyze data The rise in e-commerce fraud and data breaches and how to protect information and investigate events Omnichannel best practices from ordering, fulfillment, delivery, and returns For more information about the LPRC, its various research projects and working groups, and membership, visit LPresearch.org. The LPRC’s annual Impact conference scheduled for October 5–7 at the University of Florida in Gainesville is open to a limited number of non-member retailers. Information is also available on the website or by contacting jessi@lpresearch.org.
LP Foundation’s Diversity Committee Solicits Industry Input The Loss Prevention Foundation’s Diversity Committee took a major step forward recently when professionals from across the country participated in a telephone conference to discuss needs within the loss prevention community and objectives of the committee. “Attaining a more diverse and inclusive environment in the loss prevention industry is paramount,” said Paul Jones, LPC, senior director of global asset protection for eBay and chairman of the Diversity Committee. “Our mission is to create an environment that supports and represents the communities where we work and live.”
