Perspectives from the world's largest retailer

Two years ago, Walmart US joined Auror’s community in a determined effort to solve their retail crime challenges. How has the journey been so far, and how are Walmart’s 16,000 Asset Protection/Loss Prevention (AP/LP) associates adapting to using Auror’s platform?

In a virtual fireside chat, Auror VP Retail Partnerships - North America Bobby Haskins is joined by Walmart US Senior Director of Asset Protection Joshua Ridgeway at Auror Connect ‘23. They explore how using Auror has changed the way Walmart addresses crime, the successes they have experienced from using data-driven, actionable intelligence, and what changes we need to see in the retail industry with regards to crime prevention.

Here are some of the main takeaways from this conversation.

The impact of data and intel has been game-changing

Last year when Josh spoke at Auror Connect ‘22, Walmart was at the start of its Auror journey, having recently implemented the platform in 4600 stores all in one go.

Since then, they have only gone from strength to strength. Josh shared that over the past year, his team had entered more than 1 million events into the platform, which was almost triple the number entered in the first year.

With all that data, they were able to see that just 10% of people offending at Walmart are responsible for 94% of the loss.

“I fell out of my chair,” Josh shared. “That was my biggest ‘aha’ moment. I have worked in stores, I have dealt with theft, but for you to tell me 10%, 94%, it shocked me. And in a good way, it shocked us into action. We’ve put a team to go after that 10% and they’re making great strides.”

From an adoption standpoint, the team has embraced Auror wholeheartedly and feel a greater sense of purpose from entering event information, connecting the dots, and focusing on the small number of people causing the most loss and harm. 

“We’re able to do amazing things with the data, which is why it’s a crime prevention intelligence platform. This is no case management nonsense.”

Having the right information leads to a better approach to crime prevention

Having this data and intelligence at their fingertips has fundamentally changed how Walmart’s AP/LP team approaches the issue of retail crime in their stores. Not only are they able to bring solid data to conversations with their leadership teams, merchants, and suppliers, but they have changed their behavior towards preventing theft.

They are better able to be more deliberate with their approach, or more “surgical” as Josh described it. By focusing on the right people, they can go about solving the problem in a way “where your customer doesn’t notice it, but your thief is terrified of it.”

It’s enabled an organization-wide effort to be more precise, and to enable better conversations about the problem.

Ultimately, the true value of Auror is the safety it enables

As everyone in the industry knows, retail crimes have been getting increasingly violent and brazen. While Auror’s platform has helped with Walmart’s bottom line, Josh stressed that it helps meet a much more important need to keep associates and customers safe. 

Being able to identify people and see their activity on the platform helps to better inform teams on the best plan of action, whether that’s to call in law enforcement, back off from approaching the person, and so on.

“That is the true value of Auror, in my opinion,” Josh said.

There’s a great need for the industry to work together against crime

And what about broader industry change? When talking about the impact of “Disorganized Retail Crime”, Josh pointed out that it is a growing problem, but conversations about it need to happen in a more meaningful way that prompts action.

Importantly, retailers need to work better together to decide how they are going to protect the industry and protect themselves from this type of crime. 

“It’s just insanity how much this is impacting us. Shame on us for being quiet for as long as we have been about it.”

Josh noted national and state legislative efforts currently underway to address Organized Retail Crime, but he said the real action takes place between AP/LP and community leaders. This means having regular conversations with local law enforcement, mayors, and the like, backed by data to express the need for help and action.