Predicting Results With XBR Loss Prevention And Store Analytics

Using XBR Loss Prevention and Store Analytics to detect fraud is a common practice for retailers in the US and abroad. However, XBR is more than a tool for catching dishonest employees. Its powerful analytics capabilities can be used to evaluate non- POS data, revealing ways to save money and to identify areas for improvement.

Genesco, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is a retailer and wholesaler of footwear and headwear. They operate more than 1,600 retail locations and have been using XBR for nearly 10 years. They initially used XBR primarily for loss prevention, but recently began to expand its use for other analysis, such as predicting potential bad physical inventory audits and prioritizing stores for the scheduling of physical inventory audits.

"We knew that XBR was very powerful," says Cory McDermaid, Senior Systems Analyst/Programmer and XBR Administrator at Genesco.

Already familiar with XBR's methodologies, McDermaid and his team could handle this scorecard construction on their own. They expanded beyond the existing Core Queries and developed several new Control Points and Ad Hoc reports on their own. (Clients who are not as comfortable working with the system typically enlist the help of MICROS-Retail Consultants.) One of the first hurdles the team faced was that the required data was stored in three separate databases. Using views, stored procedures, and database links, they were able to pull the necessary information into the XBR environment.