Retail Security Research Articles

AI in Retail Security: Navigating Compliance and Building Consumer Trust

AI in Retail Security: Navigating Compliance and Building Consumer Trust

Surviving on the frontline: Retail security guards and their self-protection behaviours

Despite the rapid expansion of private security guarding over the past 30 years, the reactions of guards to working in situations where violence is a constant possibility are seldom discussed. This article analyses how retail security guards respond to the threat of, and the actual experience of, violence through their adaptation of self-protection measures. We identify that a range of measures are adapted, broadly compromising of the ‘proactive’ that prepare guards for potential future confrontation and those described as ‘inactive’ where guards may use avoidance tactics or methods of withdrawal for their own safety. The article considers motivational factors that drive the adaptation of proactive and inactive measures and develops a novel explanatory framework outlining how fears around violence can generate both functional and dysfunctional forms of worry in security guards. Finally, some implications of these findings for the private security sector are outlined.

Piecing together the extent of retail fractional trading

We examine the introduction of fractional trading and its impact on retail security ownership. Fractional trading aims to increase investor access to securities with high prices. Over the initial months of Robinhood’s fractional trading program, the number of unique owners increases approximately 53 percentage points more for stocks priced above $100 versus those priced below $50. Intraday, high-price stocks exhibit incremental ownership growth specifically during periods when fractional trading is permitted. Our results show that Robinhood investors make ample use of fractional trading to acquire previously inaccessible securities, indicating a substantial reduction in price-based investing frictions and carrying implications for retail portfolio management. In addition, we show that potential market impacts of fractional trading appear negligible based on share volume data from multiple brokers with fractional trading programs.

HERDING BEHAVIOR: MENGEKSPLORASI SISI ANALISIS BROKER SUMMARY

Our research focuses on herding behavior and broker summary analysis in the Covid-19 time frame in Indonesia. Herding behavior in the retail exchange community or the general public is considered detrimental due to the irrationality of analysis and promoting euphoria which results in very large losses. Answering the research gap, we offer a broad exploration concept to avoid and create positive returns by utilizing the herding behavior of the retail market community. We tested using multiple methods to ensure the existence of herding behavior in a regression setting of two and took advantage of positive opportunistic returns for exchange play. The first method shows that the research sample detected herding behavior during March 11, 2020 – March 11, 202 and we ensure the resilience of existence through two models. The second method, to get a positive return, we offer bandarmology analysis adopted from Dow theory for trading in a market maker style. Analyzing the movement and following market makers, we can conclude that it creates positive returns and prevents the stock exchange community from the impact of sustainable auto rejects. This study has limitations, for future research we expect the use of empirical models that are simpler and more efficient in revealing herding behavior. Furthermore, for the exploratory method, further research can be carried out in disclosing bandarmology analysis based on stock categorization (blue chip, second liner, and third liner), time horizon of market makers, and detailed analysis of camouflage behavior of market makers using retail securities. Penelitian kami berfokus pada perilaku herding dan analisis ringkasan broker dalam kerangka waktu Covid-19 di Indonesia. Perilaku menggiring di komunitas bursa ritel atau masyarakat umum dianggap merugikan karena irasionalitas analisis dan euforia yang menimbulkan kerugian yang sangat besar. Menjawab kesenjangan penelitian, kami menawarkan konsep eksplorasi yang luas untuk menghindari dan menciptakan pengembalian positif dengan memanfaatkan perilaku menggiring komunitas pasar ritel. Kami menguji menggunakan beberapa metode untuk memastikan keberadaan perilaku menggiring dalam pengaturan regresi dua dan memanfaatkan pengembalian oportunistik positif untuk permainan pertukaran. Metode pertama menunjukkan bahwa sampel penelitian mendeteksi perilaku penggembalaan selama 11 Maret 2020 – 11 Maret 202 dan kami memastikan ketahanan keberadaan melalui dua model. Metode kedua, untuk mendapatkan pengembalian positif, kami menawarkan analisis bandarmologi yang diadopsi dari teori Dow untuk perdagangan dalam gaya pembuat pasar. Menganalisis pergerakan dan mengikuti pembuat pasar, kita dapat menyimpulkan bahwa itu menciptakan pengembalian positif dan mencegah komunitas bursa dari dampak penolakan mobil berkelanjutan. Penelitian ini memiliki keterbatasan, untuk penelitian selanjutnya diharapkan penggunaan model empiris yang lebih sederhana dan efisien dalam mengungkap perilaku penggembalaan. Selanjutnya untuk metode eksplorasi dapat dilakukan penelitian lebih lanjut dalam mengungkap analisis bandarmologi berdasarkan kategorisasi saham (blue chip, second liner, dan third liner), time horizon market makers, dan analisis detail perilaku kamuflase market makers dengan menggunakan retail sekuritas.

Retail employee theft: When retail security alone is not enough

AbstractRetailers and local governments lose revenue, and inevitably consumers pay higher prices due to theft. In 2018, the amount lost to employee theft per incident was $1361. This is in comparison to the amount per incident lost to shoplifting of $302. Despite this difference, the scholarly attention in marketing on retail employee theft is sparse. The current study aims to fill this gap. The framework developed and tested is based on routine activity theory, the theory of reasoned action and findings from the retailing and management literature. Data were collected from a national sample of 665 retail employees. The framework simultaneously examines the influence of attitudes, antecedents, and social norms regarding stealing on employee intentions to steal and the influence of a moral compass and organizational commitment on attitudes toward stealing and intentions to steal. Results indicate that attitudes toward stealing are driven by the availability of suitable targets, the absence of guardianship, and a moral compass. Behavioral intentions to steal are influenced by attitudes toward stealing, suitable targets (but indirectly), and the employee's level of employment.

Security guards as victims of violence: using organisational support theory to understand how support for victims could have positive implications for the security industry

Although it has been acknowledged that security guards are at high risk of becoming victims of violence, little previous research has considered (a) what support is provided for victims and (b) how a lack of adequate provision could have negative impacts on both security guards and the security industry. The paper focuses on data collected with retail security guards working in the United Kingdom through 488 online surveys and 20 face-to-face interviews. We outline the sources of support respondents would like to see and through the gaze of organisational support theory identify how inadequate support can generate negative emotions, a lack of loyalty towards employers and a lack of work motivation. We conclude that while international research across larger samples of security guards might help to build a more composite picture of the support needs of victimised security guards, the findings of this study have important implications for the security industry and pave the way for a potentially important body of research.

In-transit cargo crime impacting the retail supply chain

Surveys of retail security directors show that almost half of those polled had been the victims of a supplychain disruption directly related to cargo theft. This is a significant increase from just five years ago. In order to fully understand the issue of cargo theft, retailers need to know why it exists, who is perpetrating it, how risk can be reduced, and ultimately how to react to a loss. This article explores a number of dimensions of the issue, and offers several suggestions for mitigating the risk and dealing with theft after it occurs.

Playing Nice in the Sandbox: An Examination into the Working Relationships between Retail Store Detectives and Public Law Enforcement Officers

This study explores the working relationship between store detectives and public law enforcement officers. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with store detectives from two national retail chains. The results of this study indicate that store detectives have a positive working relationship with police and engage in active cooperation with them. In addition, the presence of community development units and organized retail crime task forces enhance active cooperation between the two parties. Findings from this study can be used by both academics and practitioners to promote strong relationships between law enforcement and the retail security industry.

Mobile payment technologies in retail: a review of potential benefits and risks

Purpose – Retailers and suppliers are facing the challenge of reconfiguring systems to accommodate increasingly mobile customers expecting multichannel options supporting quick and secure digital payment. The purpose of this paper is to harness the learning from the implementation of self-checkout and combines it with available information relating to mobile scanning and mobile point-of-sale (MPOS). Design/methodology/approach – In review of the literature, the paper provides an overview of different modes of mobile payment systems, and a consideration of some of the benefits that they offer to retailers and their customers. The main focus, drawing upon telephone interviews with retail security professionals in Australia and New Zealand, is on anticipating and mitigating against the potential risks, vulnerabilities and impact on shrinkage. Findings – With the market being flooded with software and products, retailers are exposed to a compelling case for mobile payment, but it was found that they are not as cognisant of the potential risks. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed on the different permutations of mobile POS and how it impacts on the customer journey and rates of internal and external theft. Practical implications – Suggestions for future empirical research on the risks and vulnerabilities that moving to mobile payment can usher in are provided. Originality/value – The paper links research from diverse fields, in particular criminology, to elucidate the potential impact of mobile technologies on retail theft and internal technological and process issues, before offering possible solutions.

Money laundering and Greek banking payment and settlement systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, categorize and describe the Greek banking payment and settlement systems and the way to SEPA. Also, the purpose is to describe authorities that supervise money laundering through Greek payment systems and identify major categories of suspicious transaction reports and amounts of criminal assets per each category. Design/methodology/approach – The Bank of Greece, central bank of Greece, has explicit tasks in the field of payment and settlement systems. In Greece, there are three payment and settlement systems: large-value payment system (TARGET2), retail payment systems and securities settlement systems. Findings – TARGET2 is based on a technically centralized platform (single shared platform – SSP), which is provided by the central banks of Germany, France and Italy, and it replaces the decentralized structure of the original TARGET system. Migration on TARGET2 took place in Greece on May 19, 2008. Ongoing cooperation between the European System of Central Banks and the banking community through extensive consultations facilitated the smooth migration to TARGET2. Retail payment systems consist of DIAS credit transfers, direct debits, check, ATM transactions and card payments. During the year 2013, DIAS cleared 144.13 million payment transactions with a total value of €184.1 billion. Most of the transactions were credit transfers SEPA compliant. Securities settlement systems operate on the delivery versus payment principle, whereby sales of securities and respective payments are affected simultaneously, as well as the principle of dual notice. Migration of Greek data systems toward SEPA through a regulatory framework will promote the use of common European standards and business practices for a fully automated and efficient processing of payment instruments. Bank of Greece and Greek Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Authority are responsible authorities to supervise illegal activity through bank payment systems. Data show that Greek bank payment systems were used during 2012 for tax evasion and for offences that result in imprisonment for over six months. Practical implications – Above findings are useful for information technology management, legislative and compliance authorities, investors and person that operate transactions with Greek banking payment and settlement systems. Originality/value – To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first study about Greek banking payment systems.

Advancing Retail Security Design: Uncovering Shoplifter Perceptions of the Physical Environment

Security is imperative knowledge for the designer, yet little integration currently exists between security and interior design. Further, the retail environment has been recognized as holding great potential for crime reduction through enhanced design solutions. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of 24 expert and novice shoplifters using verbal protocol analysis, a methodology for eliciting verbal reports of thought sequences. The study objectives were to examine shoplifters’ perceptions of the retail environment, investigate potential deterrents to crime, and explore the relationship between physical design features and security techniques. The results revealed significant differences between expert and novice shoplifters. Findings indicated that shoplifters focused attention on the evidence of design and security devices, including formal surveillance, product positioning, security tagging, employee positioning, access control, and store layout. Finally, the study also supported three profiles of shoplifters: low, medium, and high environmental deterrence. Overall, the study illustrates the potential of the physical environment to deter shoplifting, and proposes appropriate design solutions.

KISS, but tell all: short-form disclosure for retail investors

There seems to be a problem in European retail securities markets: investors say they cannot understand what they are being offered, particularly when the securities in question are packaged products, such as structured notes or securitized deposits (which those involved in the debate have called ‘packaged retail investment products’ or PRIPs). The solution that is being put forward by the European Commission and others appears relatively straightforward—tell investors all that they need to take their investment decision, but do so in a shorter document (some say, no more than two sides of A4-sized paper), in plain language. ‘Keep it short and simple’ (KISS), to use the acronym favoured by many in the discussions that have taken place over the last two years, but tell all. The current title for this short disclosure document is ‘Key Information Document’ (KID). Short form disclosure is not, of course, a new concept. It has roots in several pieces of European legislation, including the Prospectus Directive,1 which requires a short summary document for retail products, and the regime that regulates many types of collective investments (the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities—UCITS2 regime), which requires a simplified prospectus to be provided to retail investors prior to contract. What is new, however, is the intention to harmonize these different forms of simplified disclosure, so that retail investors in UCITS and certain types of other products receive the same disclosure whatever legal form the investment may take. From a consumer protection viewpoint, this appears very sensible, given that it is possible to offer to an investor several products that are commercially identical, yet entirely different in legal structure. In other words, a UCITS product may be rewritten as a structured note; but the investor should be given the same disclosure for both products.

Someone's got to pay

Consumers are increasingly trading the high street for the home computer, and in both cases getting more than they bargained for. Rob Stringer investigates the fraud and fuzzy legislation of retail security

The State of Information Security Law: A Focus on the Key Legal Trends

Information security is rapidly emerging as one of the most critical legal issues facing companies today. Concerns regarding corporate governance, individual privacy, accountability for financial i...

Correlates of Crime Losses in the Retail Industry

Shoplifting and employee theft in the US cost the retail industry and consumers billions of dollars annually. No other category of property crime costs the economy more than these two forms of larceny. This study explores the effectiveness of different strategies used by loss prevention departments to reduce this deficit, which retailers call ‘inventory shrinkage’. Using data collected from the University of Florida's 2003 National Retail Security Survey, this research examines the empirical relationship between various loss prevention strategies and levels of inventory shrinkage. Specifically, the study investigates the role played by employee integrity screening measures, loss prevention awareness programs, asset control policies, and loss prevention systems in preventing and reducing crime levels in the retail industry.

Who actually steals? A study of covertly observed shoplifters*

Shoplifting is one of the most common and costly crimes, yet little data exist to determine reliably characteristics of the typical shoplifter or the modus operandi of the crime. It is a crime that has most often been studied using official, secondary data provided by either retail security personnel or law enforcement officers. Reliability issues plague these official data. Continuing the “dark figure of crime” tradition, this study examines shoplifting by covert observation with a camera system installed in a typical suburban retail drug store. A standardized data template was used to record the demographic and behavioral characteristics of shoppers. Significant numbers of shoppers (8.5%) were observed shoplifting. Logistic regression analysis reveals that, while members of some demographic groups shoplifted more often than others, behavioral indicators carried far more predictive power. The methodology and findings are considered within the larger context of the law enforcement and “profiling” literatures.

Consumer misbehaviour: an exploratory study of shopliftin

AbstractAlthough customer theft is traditionally researched from a criminological or psychological perspective, this paper investigates shoplifting as consumer behaviour, demonstrating that well‐defined models of normal consumer behaviour can be applied to aberrant behaviour such as shop theft. Empirical research is used to show how adults and teenagers form belief systems that amount to rational intentions in the decision to shoplift. The theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) was used as the basis for two self‐report surveys which investigated the interaction between consumers' attitudes and beliefs about shoplifting and their perceptions of retail security. The first survey utilised a sample of shoppers from the South East Midlands; the second a sample of school students from the same area (861 respondents in total, 109 respondents admitting to shoplifting in the previous year). Both studies indicate that the decision to shoplift is influenced by pro‐shoplifting attitudes, social factors, opportunities for shoplifting and perceptions of low risks of apprehension. This implies that the deterrent messages we use must be reassessed. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.

The Formation and Transformation of Securities Law in Japan: From the Bubble to the Big Bang

It has been a tumultuous decade for Japanese securities markets. The collapse of the Bubble and advent of the Big Bang have reshaped the markets and spurred significant foreign investment. The newspapers are filled with accounts of mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies. Less widely reported, but equally important, has been the dramatic shift in Japanese securities law. Prior to the 1990s, private enforcement of Japanese securities law was "virtually non-existent." The collapse of the Bubble, a regulatory vacuum and unsatisfactory alternative dispute resolution changed this. There has been a litigation explosion resulting in new judicial norms. A proactive judiciary has imposed duties on securities companies and created private causes of action for investors without basis or counterpart in the Japanese Securities Exchange Law. These judicial norms, more than administrative or private norms, have come to regulate the retail securities markets.As with previous periods of judicial activism, the central government has stepped in with new legislation. However, in contrast to earlier retrenchments that removed disputes from the purview of the judiciary, the Diet has codified the new private causes of action and reinforced the role of the judiciary.The changes in Japanese securities law are illustrative of a remarkable shift in Japanese law and present an opportunity to better understand the changing roles of administrative agencies and the judiciary in Japan. These changes also present opportunities, as well as hidden pitfalls, for foreign financial institutions operating in Japan. This paper explores an important area and period of Japanese law that has thus far received little attention.

Consumer Misbehaviour: Consumers' Perceptions of Shoplifting and Retail Security

Customer theft presents a major problem to British retailers, despite continuing investment in retail security. This paper uses a consumer behaviour research method to investigate consumers' attitudes to shoplifting, the effectiveness of retail security measures and the factors which encourage or inhibit customer theft. Of the 417 consumers surveyed, 32 per cent admitted to shoplifting behaviour, with seven per cent having shoplifted within the previous 12 months. The behaviour of the current shoplifters was influenced by their pro-shoplifting attitudes, a lack of moral concerns about the behaviour, social influence and their perception that shoplifting is a low-risk, low-cost crime. Recommendations are made as to how the attitudes of the shoplifters can be changed, and thus increase perceptions of the risks and costs of shoplifting.

Shop Thieves' Perceptions of Retail Security

Shop theft is both an expensive and prevalent crime. Despite the introduction of security measures into retailing and refinement of the technology, the war against shop thieves does not yet appear to have been won. Many of these “situational measures” work on the assumption that offenders perceive such technology to increase their risk of apprehension and will therefore act as a deterrent. This article examines offenders' perceptions of retail security measures. Evidence is presented from interviews with 38 shop thieves and this data is supplemented by a review of research on shop theft. The research concludes that a better understanding of how offenders perceive security, is crucial to the development of effective crime reducing strategies.