Sell more and lose less - with ECR Retail Loss
Retailers are always searching for new ways to reduce retail losses such as lost sales because of empty shelves, losses at self-checkout, returns fraud and food waste. Every year, store operations and loss prevention experts from over 300 different retail businesses from around the world participate in the meetings and research organised by ECR Retail Loss. This podcast series brings you the latest insights from our research and best practice meetings.
Episodes
Slower interventions at self-checkout
Two numbers came out of ECR's 2026 self-checkout summits, and the second one is the interesting one.The first is how long a self-checkout host takes to reach a customer who needs help, or who has not scanned something. That runs from fifteen to forty five seconds, and sometimes a good deal longer.The second is how long the host takes to clear the intervention once they arrive. Under five seconds m
Loss prevention personas
Most retailers can tell you which stores are the difficult ones. Far fewer can show you why, on paper, in a way that stands up.New ECR research by Professor Emmeline Taylor of City St George's, University of London looked at how retailers model crime risk, and found maturity across the sector to be uneven. Retailers model health and safety. They model business continuity. For crime, a great deal o
Self-checkout participation and loss
Push more transactions through self-checkout and you will lose more stock. That much was already suspected. What nobody could put a number on, until now, was how much more.Professor Matt Hopkins of the University of Leicester joins Colin Peacock to talk through the Self-Checkout Loss Report 2026, the largest study of fixed self-checkout loss yet attempted, built on data from thirty-nine retailers.
Body-Worn Cameras
Body-worn cameras are now one of retail's most talked-about safety tools. The question is no longer whether they work, but how to get colleagues to wear them.In this episode of Sell More Lose Less, Colin Peacock talks to Professor Emmeline Taylor about what a recent ECR call with around 40 retailers revealed about body-worn cameras on the shop floor.They cover the three things a camera does (deter
Remote Monitoring
Not long ago, retail CCTV was a comfort blanket: there because the store specification said so, and looked at only after something went wrong. That has changed.In this episode of Sell More Lose Less, Colin Peacock talks to Professor Emmeline Taylor about the rise of remote monitoring in retail, fresh from a two-day ECR meeting with 50 to 60 retailers.They unpack how remote monitoring centres, some
Bananas
Bananas are one of retail's best sellers. They are also one of its biggest waste lines.In this episode of Sell More Lose Less, Colin Peacock talks to food waste expert Richard Thalemann about why so many bananas are thrown away, and what retailers can do about it.They unpack a recent ECR meeting and a visit to a ripening factory in Dublin: why 36% of banana waste comes down to fruit that is too ye
Winning Hearts and Minds
The stores that waste the least food often have one thing in common: engaged colleagues.In this episode of Sell More Lose Less, Colin Peacock talks to food waste expert Richard Thalemann about why engagement matters so much, and why it is so hard to sustain.They explore why people treat food differently at home and at work, the cognitive dissonance of caring about waste while being measured on sal
The Egg Waste Problem
Eggs don't look like a big loss problem. Look closely at the numbers and the picture changes.In this episode of Sell More Lose Less, Colin Peacock is joined by food waste expert Richard Thalemann to ask why so much egg waste goes unrecorded, and what retailers can do about it.They cover the rule that forces a whole box to be binned when a single egg breaks, the £2 million a year one retailer puts
Live Facial Recognition in Retail
Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to explore how retailers around the world are deploying live facial recognition and what it takes to get it right when it comes to reducing losses while maintaining privacy.They break the conversation into three areas.Firstly, organisational readiness: why deploying facial recognition in retail is not about flicking a switch, and why it can take y
Exception Based Reporting in Retail
Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to discuss how Exception Based Reporting (EBR) is being used across retail to tackle staff dishonesty and drive cultural change.Drawing on a new ECR Retail Loss survey of businesses across 19 countries, they explore the four key data points retailers are using to reduce losses by flagging internal theft: voided items, refunds to the same card, man
Forecourt Crime
Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to discuss the latest findings on forecourt crime rom ECR Retail Loss working group meetings.They explore why pay at pump is not the silver bullet for drive-offs and no means of payment, despite its appeal as a target-hardening measure.The conversation covers how one retailer combined ANPR technology with better signage and streamlined reporting t
RFID Innovations in Retail
Dr Susanne Guth-Orlowski of the RAIN Alliance joins Colin Peacock to reflect on the 2025 ECR RFID Innovation Summit in Düsseldorf, hosted by C&A.Around 70 retailers attended, from those with 20 years of RFID experience to those just getting started.The conversation covers what stood out: the diversity of RFID use cases across fashion, sports and home retail, the Qualcomm presentation on b
Loss Prevention Consultancy
Sophie Wong joins Colin Peacock to talk about leaving corporate life at Coles to launch her own retail loss prevention consultancy, Positively Powered.She shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of going it alone: from the freedom to think creatively and work across different retail organisations, to the reality of building a business from scratch without a steady paycheck.Sophie and Colin discuss
Returns Fraud
Professor Michael Townsley and Dr Andrew Childs join Colin Peacock to discuss new ECR Retail Loss research into returns fraud and abuse.Drawing on a survey of nearly 6,000 consumers across four countries and an investigation into dark web fraud communities, they reveal how widespread problematic return behaviours really are, why most offenders experience no friction at all, and the three practical
Retail Supply Chain Theft
The scale of retail supply chain theft is hard to ignore. With some retailers reporting $200 million worth of freight on the road on any given day, even a small percentage of loss translates into significant financial damage. Yet many businesses still allocate minimal resources to tackling the problem.In this episode, Professor Emmeline Taylor draws on her research into freight crime and findings
Predicting Inventory Record Inaccuracies
Predicting inventory inaccuracies is a practical way for retailers to target the items most likely to be wrong, rather than counting everything equally.Colin Peacock speaks with Aris Syntetos, Yacine Rekik and Christoph Glock about a decade of ECR research into inventory record inaccuracy, why it matters for availability and loss, and what interventions can make a difference.They share headline fi
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition is delivering serious results—one retailer reported a 25% drop in shrink—but it’s still on shaky ground.Professor Emmeline Taylor and Colin Peacock return to explore the real-world complexities of deploying this technology, from shared watchlists and legal grey areas to misidentifications that can make headlines.As more retailers turn to facial recognition, getting the human tou
Staff Dishonesty and Internal Theft
Internal theft is responsible for a huge chunk of retail loss—yet only 2% of cases ever come to light.Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to discuss the rising complexity of staff dishonesty, from sweethearting and fake returns to collusion at self-checkouts and e-commerce touchpoints.Drawing on new ECR research, she explores how smarter comms, not bigger budgets, could make the biggest
Quick Commerce
What happens when someone orders five beers and a bag of crisps to arrive within 15 minutes but the store only has four beers?Professor Daniel Corsten joins Colin Peacock on the podcast to dissect the economics and challenges of quick commerce. And why they so often don’t add up.From soaring labour costs to out-of-stocks and substitutions, it’s a model that struggles to work in higher-wage markets
On Shelf Availability
Cameras don’t solve on-shelf availability—but they support it.Daniel Corsten joins Colin Peacock to discuss the latest ECR Retail Loss research and explains why shelf image technology is best seen as an enhancer, not a silver bullet.Supported by case-studies, he explores how retailers are using robots, badges, and fixed cameras to complement—not replace—traditional ways to measure on shelf availab
Wardrobing
Criminologist Joe Clare shares practical lessons from ECR Retail Loss’s recent returns fraud research, revealing how a small group of repeat offenders can drive the bulk of losses. Even though 14% of all customers admit to doing it.Clothing dominates, but camping gear and electronics are also potential targets.He discusses with Colin Peacock how profiling, policy changes, and strategic tagging can
Food Waste
Despite being the cheapest option for food redistribution, less than a quarter of major retailers donate surplus food to their store colleagues.Colin Peacock and ECR Retail Loss’s expert food waste advisor Richard Thalemann explain how one retailer overcame fraud fears, tax headaches and tech hurdles to build a safe, scalable solution that’s a potential blueprint for others to follow. Hosted on Ac
Face recognition
Some retailers report up to a 25% shrink reduction when they use face recognition.In this episode, Colin and Emmeline explore how stores across the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand are deploying biometric recognition—mostly for watchlist alerts—but also for access control and retrospective investigations.They also tackle the legal, regulatory and ethical issues that retailers the world over are
Forecourt Losses
Is pay-at-pump a quick fix or a false promise? How can retailers reduce drive-offs and maintain supplementary spending?Professor Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock to examine the evolving tactics retailers are using to fight forecourt losses.From digital reporting platforms to the strategic use of ANPR, the episode sheds light on how tech, training, and smarter reporting are reshaping the future
Benchmarking E-Commerce Loss
This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Michael Townsley to reflect on ECR Retail Loss’s first-ever meeting focused on benchmarking KPIs for e-commerce loss — an increasingly vital yet under-defined area of retail loss prevention.Drawing on insights from six global retailers, they explore how different teams are measuring key metrics like acceptance rates, chargebacks, returns disputes, an
Security Officers
This week, Colin Peacock and Professor Emmeline Taylor discuss the evolving role of security officers in retail.And how training, integration, and investment can significantly enhance their impact - to reduce losses.Drawing on insights from over 70 retailers and expert presentations, the discussion highlights the importance of moving beyond a more procurement-based view of hourly guarding towards
Security Operations Centres
This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Emmeline Taylor to explore how retailers are evolving their Security Operations Centres (SOCs) into powerful hubs for crime prevention, safety, and store support.Based on insights from a benchmark study of 29 retailers and a live case study, they discuss how SOCs are being used for everything from live incident response and evidence gathering to virt
Cash Loss
This week, Colin Peacock and Professor Emmeline Taylor zoom in on the often-overlooked issue of cash loss in retail.They reflect on how internal theft, counterfeit currency, and operational inefficiencies all contribute to losses, and how a mix of simple process changes and smarter, tech-driven solutions are helping retailers halve their cash losses in a matter of months.From training and cultural
Digital Loss Prevention
This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Michael Townsley from Griffith University to focus on a case study: looking at one major e-commerce retailer’s journey to build a global digital loss prevention capability.They reflect on how the smart framing of fraud as a “lost sale” helped engage multiple internal stakeholders, and how serious investment in data collection and analysis has driven
Fortress Stores
This week, Colin Peacock is again joined by Professor Emmeline Taylor to discuss the free to download self-assessment tool included in her Fortress Stores report.The tool helps a multi-functional team undertake a self assessment exercise for retailers to explore for their most at-risk stores their compliance to a series of 28 key questions across the seven dimensions of her strategy.Emmeline expla
Product Protection
This week, Colin Peacock and Professor Emmeline Taylor catch up to discuss the latest innovations from global retailers in protecting high-risk and high-shrink products — without sacrificing the shopper experience.From app-based access to locked cabinets, through to creative new tagging solutions and packaging redesigns, this episode looks at how retailers are trying to reduce theft while keeping
Digital Incident Reporting
This week, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Emmeline Taylor to explore how retailers are transforming store incident reporting through digital systems.They discuss how the industry has now moved from paper based systems to digital reporting enabling more accurate, consistent, and actionable reporting of in-store incidents — from non-emergency incidents such as shoplifting or verbal abuse, thro
Food Waste
Engaging store leaders and associates in the fight against food waste is one of the key pillars of a successful strategy to reducing food waste in the store.This week Colin Peacock is joined by Richard Thaleman to summarise best practice from over 80 retailers in how they ensure that staff are 100% 'on side' when it comes to trying new ways to reduce food waste.And then sticking with them. Hosted
Online substitutions
On this week's episode Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Daniel Corsten to discuss managing substitutions for online orders picked from store.They explore best practice in how retailers handle out-of-stock items, the costs involved, and the benefits of personalised substitution strategies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bakery
Bakery, whether it is bought in, or produced in the store is consistently an area of high loss and waste, often accounting for up to 40% of all the surplus food in any one supermarket.This week Colin Peacock is joined by Richard Thaleman to discuss insights on new bakery planning systems and how to deal with false scans at self-checkout.They explore how innovative tools are reducing bakery waste a
Bananas
This week Colin Peacock is joined by Richard Thaleman to discuss the benefits of selling bananas by item instead of by weight.They look at how selling by weight adds friction and risk, and how switching to per-item pricing helped one retailer to significantly reduce losses.When bananas can account for up to 60% of the losses of loose products, there is a big incentive to to change the way they're
The true cost of food waste
This week Colin Peacock is joined by Richard Thaleman to discuss Lisa Jack’s report on the true cost of food surplus and unsold food.And look at how the ECR Retail Loss food waste calculator can help retailers benchmark costs like marking down, sorting, and donating surplus food. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bodyworn cameras
This week Professor Adrian Beck reports back on his new research on the effectiveness of body worn cameras in retail stores.He joins Colin Peacock to explore how these devices can improve staff safety, evidence gathering, and lead to a reduction of in-store incidents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Managing marketplace losses
This week Professor Adrian Beck joins Colin Peacock to discuss the challenges retailers face because of fraudulent claims in online marketplaces.In the context of e-commerce loss prevention they explore issues like reduced visibility, limited control, and how collaboration can help combat marketplace fraud.And learn how retailers are facing a combination of new and old challenges when it comes to
RFID in the retail supply chain
Exploring the role of RFID to improve supply chain operations, especially for omni-channel retailers, has now become a priority for many retailers.This week Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Adrian Beck to explore how retailers are leveraging RFID technology to improve supply chain operations. Including how using handheld RFID devices can lead to better inventory accuracy, reduced costs, and be
Self Checkout
This week Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Adrian Peacock to reflect on our SCO innovation summit in Brussels earlier this year. We discuss the latest innovations in self-checkouts, and the ongoing energy among retailers to drive change.Over 70 retailers participated in the meeting, hosted by Carrefour - with an agenda that included store visits, speed dating with innovators, deep dive r
Food surplus
To markdown or not to markdown? On the day [of expiry date] or some days before? Merchandised in the aisle OR a dedicated markdown location? Labels and / or ESL's? To use dynamic pricing or a simpler fixed discount table?This week Colin Peacock is joined by Richard Thaleman to tackle the challenges of markdown strategies.They discuss when to apply markdowns, where to display discounted items, and
Security Guards
This week Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Adrian Peacock to explore innovations in retail security and security guards,They discuss how retailers are rethinking the role of security guards, weighing the benefits of extra store associate hours versus security personnel, and examining ideas like community guards.Retailers spend millions, and some hundreds of millions on security guards. In our
Improving shelf replenishment routines
Retailers are constantly looking for new ways to improve shelf-replenishment routines and reduce out of stocks. At the same time they also want to shorten lead times, remove "waste" and reduce cost.In this episode, Colin Peacock is joined by Paul Chapman from Oxford University to discuss best practice in reducing out of stocks.And in particular, they explore what retailers could learn from experts
Self returns: Removing friction
Returns are a significant cost of doing business online, especially in sectors such as apparel and shoes where returns rates can be 30% plus.Our 2018 report highlighted the need for retailers to calculate the TRUE and full cost of returns, proposing a true cost of returns model that retailers could adopt to their business.In this episode Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck consider how retaile
The rise of RFID in grocery stores
Following rapid adoption in fashion and sports retailers, there is strong interest from supermarket retailers as to how RFID could help improve productivity, compliance and reduce food waste, especially in the fresh meat categories. In this episode, Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck explore the learnings from retailers on the learnings and results from their RFID trials in fresh meat.&n
Internal theft and staff dishonesty
One grocery retailer recently reduced losses on sandwiches by 25%, through the deployment of an anti-theft internal communications campaign.On this podcast prof Emmeline Taylor joins Colin Peacock and highlights a number of different ways that retailers are seeking to reduce theft by their own employees through the use of communications and advertising.The discussion includes debates around how to
Loose produce
Pity the organic avocado, damaged and bruised on its way to the shelf, "roughed up" on the shelf by shoppers, picked by mistake by the in-store pickers and then misrepresented at the self checkout.Pity too all the other loose products in fresh, especially those with the shortest shelf life, most easily damaged and with other similar alternatives.In this podcast, Colin Peacock is joined by Richard
Fresh meat losses
Meat losses, especially on lines such as Fillet Steaks, can be in excess of 20% of sales but what is driving these losses? Theft for Resale? Internal Theft & Collusion? Variable Weight Pricing? Theft in Transit? Non Scanning at the SCO? etc....and more importantly, how do you prevent these losses without hurting sales and customer satisfaction?On this episode, Colin Peacock is joined by Profes
Video analytics in retail
In this podcast Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck consider how the use of video analytics is broadening across the retail estate, especially in grocery at the self checkouts.They discuss some of the feedback and insights from 70 retailers from across the globe and consider how the new technology and analytics are increasingly being used for loss-prevention, security-management and even measu
Dealing with unknown items at self-checkout
Items not scanning at self-checkout create frustration, temptation and add friction to the shopper journey.In this podcast Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck look at the scale and nature of this problem, and the key drivers of non-scanning (hello multiple QR codes on packaging!)They consider the interventions that retailers are adopting to address these problems, to reduce the number of inter
Managing forecourt losses
There are broadly two operating models for petrol / gas forecourts. Either the shopper fills up and then goes inside the store to pay for their fuel and then (hopefully) other purchases, or they are asked to pre-pay by either going into the store or paying at the pump before fuelling.The benefit of the pre-payment model is the risk of loss, through drive offs, or the customers not having a means o
In store facial recognition
Join Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck as they discuss how retailers are using facial recognition technology within the legal constraints to reduce theft, especially from persistent offenders.The ECR working group has been tracking the use of facial recognition in retail for the last five years.We have seen some strong results reported back to the group from retailers such as Rite Aid in USA
RFID - Use cases beyond counting
Colin Peacock and Professor Adrian Beck discuss some of the latest thinking from retailers who are seeing significant benefits from the data associated with RFID. With use cases that include interactive fitting rooms, the use of RFID to improve inventory accuracy from the DC to the store, through to the use of RFID for high theft item security, product returns and more.At the peak of its inflated
Scan and Go
On this episode, Colin Peacock is joined by Professor Adrian Beck to discuss where next for Scan and Go? How can retailers reduce errors, improve accuracy and ultimately reduce loss when shoppers use their own devices to scan and pay for their groceries.Some shoppers love the ability to use their own device to scan and then pay for their groceries, as it can be a huge time saver. However, this cus
