Spotlight on Leadership: Alaina Kring

From her beginnings in law enforcement to her most recent role at Gabe's, Alaina Kring has built a strong career in Loss Prevention (LP), Organized Retail Crime (ORC), and investigations. Her experience includes starting the ORC program at Ulta Beauty, and rebuilding the LP team and processes at Gabe's.

We are excited to welcome Alaina to the Auror team as Retail Partnerships Manager. In this Q&A, we learn more about what she’s looking to achieve in her new role, what some of her greatest achievements have been so far, and the biggest challenges she sees the industry facing — and how Auror can help to address them.

Hi Alaina, welcome to Auror! Can you share a bit about your role here and what you’re most looking forward to?

I am so excited to be here! I have been talking about coming over to the solution provider side for years, and I am thrilled to be a part of the Auror team as a Retail Partnerships Manager.

Honestly, there are so many things that I am looking forward to in my role, but the biggest is sharing a way that Loss Prevention and Law Enforcement professionals can come together to detect, dismantle, and deter Organized Retail Crime groups.

There are so many challenges that we face daily in our professional world, and providing an intelligence tool that connects the dots, provides smart and actionable intelligence, and advocates for the safety of associates across retailers excites me. I am so honored to be part of something bigger than myself, and Auror has provided that opportunity, hands-down!

Why Auror and why now?

Auor is an outstanding company that was founded by bright minds with a big vision to reduce crime, loss, and harm in stores in the retail environment. That vision gave way to the most incredible industry solution that allows retailers to empower their team members to improve profitability, productivity, and store safety.

I used Auror at a previous company and witnessed first-hand how powerful the tool was. Cases were closed, store engagement went through the roof, violence was deterred, and for the first time it was possible to be proactive versus reactive in the retail space. Being proactive is something that really does change the game and resonates with me so personally.

I loved being a practitioner in the industry, but the thought of helping others by sharing what Auror does and can do for them personally excited me. So, I wanted to come into the Auror space to be a proactive part of the ORC solution — to show others what is possible, to achieve their own goals, close major cases, keep associates safe, and reduce shrink in their stores.

You’ve had quite the career so far in AP/LP. What have been some of your greatest achievements?

I can honestly say that the greatest achievement throughout my career is being a small part of the amazing Loss Prevention community. I have served on various boards in different capacities, assisted on leadership councils, participated in podcasts, shared advice, worked on conferences… you know, just a little bit of everything!

But the most rewarding part of my career has been meeting new people, making lifelong friends, supporting and celebrating my peers, and knowing that I am fortunate enough to be a small part of this incredible industry.

What are the top challenges you see in the industry now and into the foreseeable future?

Right now the biggest issue retailers are facing is violence in stores and the sheer velocity with which ORC is occurring. Shrink is on the rise and the external element of theft is a substantial contributing factor. Not to mention collusion is occurring with associates and external suspects that work in retail stores, supply chain centers, or delivery services that contribute to loss. It is a very vicious cycle that is reducing profit, creating a phantom economy, and driving up the cost of goods that affect the consumer.

This will continue to occur as ORC groups are very aggressive, travel from state to state, and are hard to link to broader criminal organizations. Not to mention online marketplaces are unregulated in some cases and retail theft is still a low risk, high reward crime.

Until we tackle ORC from every angle, it will continue to affect us for the foreseeable future.

How do you think Auror is placed to help address some of those challenges?

Auror is revolutionizing the ORC space from a criminal intelligence standpoint. It is the answer to “what keeps us up at night.” The platform allows LP team members and law enforcement to fight crime effectively, while empowering store level leaders to use a tool that is intuitive, simple, and effective. It unlocks the answers LP teams need to allocate resources, staff stores effectively, go after shrink and safety impacting cases, gain cross-functional business support, and work smarter not harder.

The biggest thing that professionals in the industry need to know is Auror delivers on what it promises to do, all while offering outstanding customer success, implementation, and training of the platform. It connects people and organizations with timely intelligence to proactively reduce the impacts of crime in retail stores. It is ever evolving, and isn’t a repository of store incident data, but rather it brings the data to life and makes large scale cases workable, solvable, and closable. It is a game changer!

Finally, what is something not many people know about you?

I love to make and pour my own candles! It is something that I enjoy so much and brings me great joy! I also love traveling with my precious husband and spending time with my family, especially my two grandbabies!

At Auror, we believe AP/LP is redefining the future of retail. Read why.