Rethinking Retail Traditional thinking is the eCommerce is good for loss prevention, but the acceleration of multi-channel retail in the wake of COVID-19 is disproving that assumption, writes Sara Mosqueda in ASIS International’s Security Technology magazine.
Sara Mosqueda is Associate Editor of ASIS International’ Security Management magazine. She has previously worked as a freelance reporter and copy editor, natural gas journalist and daily newspaper reporter.
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Every November in the United States, the busiest shopping day of the year rolls around: Black Friday. In previous years, the day after Thanksgiving often evoked the image of bleary-eyed, keyed-up shoppers waiting in line outside stores in the early morning hours, ready to stampede into malls to hunt down the best deals. But in recent years, the singleday shopping spree expanded into a long weekend of sales, including—with the advent of Cyber Monday—a growing shift to eCommerce. Online sales hit a new record for that weekend in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). “For the first time, Black Friday topped Cyber Monday as the busiest day for online at 93.2 million shoppers compared with 83.3 million,” the NRF found in its 2019 survey of Black Friday. The 2019 Black Friday holiday weekend resulted in online sales generating $7.4 billion. And while 124 million people visited brickand-mortar stores throughout those four days (with Friday remaining the busiest day), 142.2 million shoppers used retailers’ websites to take advantage of sales, and 75.7 million did both. A little more than three months after 2019’s record-breaking Black Friday, with winter holidays disappearing from the rearview mirror, local authorities in King
County, Washington, issued the first recommendation for people in vulnerable groups to stay home in an attempt to tamp down the spread of COVID-19. Since then, a total of 42 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have issued stay-at-home orders as the coronavirus grew into a global pandemic. State and national authorities urged employers to allow for remote work where possible and asked the public to leave their homes or neighbourhoods only if necessary. As a result, many people’s personal and professional lives were further pushed online, and shopping was no exception as consumers sought ways to limit potential sources of exposure. The NRF reported in August that the pandemic accelerated interest in online shopping, but research also found that retailers were adapting to address concerns around the coronavirus, including blending online and offline channels through curbside pickup or personal shopper services. However, these shifts in buying habits and business operations are also linked to evolving risks. The NRF’s 2020 National Retail Security Survey attempts to measure total retail shrink, including fraud, theft (both internal and external), and other sources of retail loss. Although the report was based on fiscal year 2019 loss prevention data collected from 69 U.S. retailers, the survey was conducted while stores and other businesses were ordered to shut down in response to the pandemic.
December 2020/January 2021
