How To Avoid Self-Checkout Theft

By Bob Johns

You can prevent customers from “sweethearting” themselves at the self-checkout with enhanced video analytics.

When it comes to loss prevention (LP), retailers approach it from many different directions. One of the fastest-growing ways has to do with analytics and video at the checkout. I recently had the chance to speak with Malay Kundu, founder and CEO of StopLift, to discuss a little of what is going on in the industry.

One of the largest causes of loss is “sweethearting” by cashiers to family and friends. Kundu says, “There are many ways associates can sweetheart. They can utilize ‘scan avoidance’ by going around the scanner with the product, flip product to keep the barcode opposite from the scanner, or scan 1 item of a lower price and bag the higher-priced item.” Modern technology is using analytics to identify characteristics of each of these avoidance techniques. Once identified, alerts can be sent to a manager or LP person to confirm or refute the flagged incident. This can now be done in real time and does not impede the checkout process.

Using StopLift’s ScanItAll technology, each item is identified and tracked throughout the entire checkout process. The solution will follow each product from the cart or basket, through the scanning process, and into the bag. “With this technology, we can identify how many products should be rung up, any product that is left in the cart, and any fraudulent activity,” Kundu says. “This technology is now being applied to the rapidly growing self-checkout, where fraud is fairly high.”

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