Prevention of pilferage
INITIAL SITUATION
The stocktaking and stock bookkeeping at Store X indicated that after merchandise had been received at the warehouse and before stocktaking had been carried out, a quantity of mid-priced products had vanished from various departments of the store. Inquiries carried out by Store X itself led nowhere, only engendering tensions among personnel.
Store X contacted us, and, working together with the customer, we worked out a plan to clarify the reasons behind pilferage.
CASE
The logistics manager of the customer presented the entire logistical chain to us, from warehouse to shelf. In connection with this, we were given an overview of the software and the employees.
SOLUTION
We started from the most obvious – by collecting information on the personnel, using social media, among other things. We contacted our partner that specialises in quick analyses of big data. Data from the logistics software was analysed and assessed.
We interviewed the personnel and investigated the subcontractors.
However, we failed to find anybody who could fit our traditional model of pilferage prevention – until our partner delivered their report on the data extracted from the logistics software. We were able to find a change in sales that took place on certain dates.
Compared to natural changes, such as campaigns, this small change always occurred at the same time, one week before the turn of the month. We then re-examined the data that we had collected of the employees, finding an individual whose habits allowed us to corroborate our suspicions. Store X contacted the police; in questioning, it was soon revealed that the suspect had sold the vanished items and covered this up by entering extra expenses at the end of each month.