Retail security measures can protect assets and staff, but they also create friction that drives shoppers away. Using operational security data to guide staffing, layout and process decisions reduces shrink while improving the in-store experience.
Traditional loss-prevention metrics (recovery, apprehensions, shrinkage) miss customer decisions driven by friction, such as abandoning items behind locked displays or avoiding constrained checkouts.
Treat security data — video intelligence and operational movement metrics — as CX inputs to find where interventions create unnecessary friction and to focus resources where they reduce both risk and customer frustration.
Small operational changes informed by security data (dynamic routing, targeted staffing, adaptable response protocols) can cut harmful interactions and balance safety with a smoother shopping journey.
The answer to preserving the appeal of real-world stores lies in their unique ability to craft an engaging and helpful customer experience. Theft and violence against retail staff are on the rise, and though this issue requires active intervention, it can result in an overly restrictive journey for shoppers. The costs of loss prevention Traditional metrics, such as recovery, apprehensions, reports and drops in shrinkage, are important when tracking the effects of loss prevention, but they only cover part of the issue.
They do not reveal, for example, when customers decide against buying something because it sits behind a display, and there are no staff in their immediate presence to unlock it. Retailers no longer have to choose among threat prevention, loss protection and the customer experience, as they can all be part of a single optimization strategy. An associate prompt for a low-risk potential incident, rather than an immediate confrontation.
stock.adobe.com October 1, 2026 by John Kim — Co-Founder and CEO, Sendbird Summarize with ChatGPT Grok Perplexity Claude Though retail is still the most popular way to shop, e-commerce has nearly doubled its portion of total sales in the past decade. Unfortunately, another trend somewhat conflicts with this idea. Locked barriers hide everyday essentials, self-checkouts and dressing rooms are restricted and guards examine their receipts as they leave, all features implemented with the best of intentions, but that nonetheless make customers feel antagonized.
Customers experiencing vulnerability or additional needs exist across every customer population, yet many organizations still only provide support after customers have encountered significant difficulties or harm. Leading organizations recognize that vulnerability is often dynamic, contextual, and difficult for custome
TL;DR Teams across your company are asking AI assistants about customer sentiment, complaint patterns, and churn risk. Without a structured data connection, every answer is fabricated. Not approximated. Fabricated. Deloitte found that 47% of executives made major business decisions based on AI-generated content they ne
Risk-based prevention changes the central question from “How do we close this event?” to “What evidence tells us where the next event could begin?”
Customers will continue to surface problems before most reporting systems do. AI can make that evidence visible early enough for retailers to trace the issue beyond the contact center, correct the underlying process and confirm whether the change worked before the same failure reaches more customers.
Retailers will keep competing hard on price, especially as shoppers become more cautious about where they spend. But a discount alone does not create a strong customer experience.
Retailers can close the loyalty gap by designing programs around customer needs rather than individual channels.
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.