LITTLE ROCK — Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have teamed with the Retail Industry Leaders Association to evaluate theft-prevention measures, given the rise of electronic payment options now available.
The focus is on emerging point-of-sale technology that shoppers can access via smart phones and other mobile devices through services such as Google Wallet. The devices also enable shoppers to use mobile coupons and receive e-mailed receipts.
The issue, said John Aloysius, associate professor of supply-chain management at the university’s Walton College of Business, is whether existing anti-theft systems are effective when shoppers can bypass the traditional checkout lines.
In some cases, he said, employees may be deployed throughout departments with iPads or a similar device to assist customers with on-the-spot checkout using credit or debit cards.
“The minute you bring in mobile point-of-sale, you no longer have a clearly defined point” for theft prevention, he said.
Lisa LaBruno, vice president for loss prevention and legal affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said the organization - which includes many of the nation’s largest retailers - has several members that are exploring touchless mobile self-checkout. The group partnered with the Walton college because of its history of working on retail projects.
A key question, she said, is whether mobile self-checkout creates greater opportunity for “the bad guys,” including organized retail crime rings, to duplicate receipts in large quantities, leading to product return fraud.
“It’s certainly something we need to explore,” LaBruno said.
Also supporting the effort is Checkpoint Systems Inc. of Thorofare, N.J., which specializes in theft prevention.
Carlos Perez, the company’s marketing director, said new methods of paying with mobile devices have made some existing theft-prevention efforts obsolete. But shoppers, he said, want the option of mobile payment.
How to offer that option in a big-box retail setting without enabling fraud and collusion is “exactly what this research is about.”
“We’re at the very early stages of this. We don’t know where the end is,” he said.
Perez said he anticipates that, over the next 12 months, the speed of innovation in theft prevention will increase.
Business, Pages 21 on 07/24/2012