Loss Prevention is not an option for retailers today; it is a must for survival in the market:

Losses can occur in many areas of an organization. For example, they can be generated internally by staff, and externally by suppliers, clients and the general public, who are predisposed to maximize their own profit/income/benefit at the expense of the organization.
Loss prevention can be attained by minimizing the effects of malicious internal and external entities, and the negative impact of errors and negligence.

World benchmarks suggest that employee theft and errors are the main causes of losses. The figures below show ECR Europe's view and the University of Florida’s view of losses in the USA.

• The US retail market is losing ~ USD 41.5 billion annually (source: US NRSS).
• The European retail market is loosing ~ USD 37 billion annually (source: ECR).

These views tend to simplify the issues. In reality, and from multiple project experience, staff are involved in the vast majority of losses. Whether through direct theft, collusion with others or simple errors staff account for the vast majority of losses. This has a significant impact when focusing resources. A more realistic view is shown in figure  below.

 

Process failures, particularly system generated losses, are significant. It could be argued that all system failures are ultimately attributable to staff. What is important here is that the correct causes must be identified.