How Retailers Can Tackle Shrink During and Post-Holidays

Leading up to last year’s holiday season, rising shrink, or the loss of inventory from a store due to various factors, elicited a strong response from retailers. While there are various mitigation strategies, they often lead to tradeoffs and consequences that could frustrate shoppers and reduce sales.

BRG’s Retail Performance Improvement team breaks down shrink into a common language, shares expectations for the remainder of 2024, and offers eight strategies to help retailers achieve retail loss-reduction goals:

1. Establish organization-wide loss attribution
2. Partner with vendors
3. Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to enhance forecasting and inventory management
4. Strengthen store operational processes
5. Implement in-store theft prevention measures
6. Collaborate with law enforcement when theft prevention measures fail
7. Consider differentiating engagement models and staffing practices
8. Invest in recruiting and training