David Pardoe
Head of Profit Protection
The Works

In pursuit of colleague safety – a UK perspective

Dave reviews the growing trend in customer aggression towards retail colleagues, and mitigation using body-worn video cameras

We are delighted to be joined in person from the UK by Dave Pardoe. Dave is the Head of Profit Protection at the multisite retailer The Works and is a former Retail Risk double award winner, being awarded in 2018 the UK Retail Risk Director of the year and acknowledged as head of the UK Retail Risk Team of the year.

Post pandemic, Dave was faced with a significant upsurge in customer aggression towards retail colleagues. Dave’s presentation will outline his employer’s proof of concept in the introduction of body worn video cameras from Reveal, his customer-facing colleagues’ response to the initiative, the impact on their personal safety perception and ultimately the reduction in incidences of customer aggression.

This promises to be a truly insightful presentation into an area that is increasingly challenging all bricks and mortar retailers.

Mike Sandig
Managing Director
Arctic Risk

What can we learn from the mining industry?

Mike will lead a discussion on how to apply learnings from high-risk environments to Retail management

The mining industry is one of the biggest economic drivers within Australia, utilizing diverse and integrated risk management processes to support and protect their people, assets and communities.
In this round table session Mike will be discussing the key learnings and how to apply these back into a retail environment:

1. Management of high-risk activities in a changing world
2. Managing organisations with a diverse and wide geographic spread of people
3. Creation of a High Reliability Organisation culture

Mike is an experienced risk manager, (he was voted Regional Risk Manager of the Year at the 2019 Fraud Awards) who has worked across a diverse range of industries, including mining, retail, radiology and engineering. Mike provides consulting, training and support to a variety of businesses on risk management strategies and achieving high reliability organisational culture. Mike can provide an in-depth view and different perspective on managing risks within a retail environment using learnings that have been adapted from high-risk environments.

Daren Ng
VP & General Manager Asia Pacific
Sensormatic Solutions

Retail trends and shopper insights 2024/5

A briefing on the latest trends and insights for Retail

Daren will deliver a briefing for retailers, also considering:

1. What you can do about the retail and shopper trends
2. What retail data do you have, and are you looking for to better manage your operations?
3. A guide to better retail operations/data management.

Following his presentation Daren will host a round table for more in-depth discussion of these trends and insights.

Naomi Nevin
eCommerce Manager
Rhythm Sports

Sean Sloan
Marketing Development Manager, RFID
Avery Dennison

RFID: the key to digitizing loss prevention

Digitizing LP gives retailers the insights and data needed to proactively combat crime

RFID sensors are about more than just inventory management. RFID tags and labels can be found on a wide range of consumer products due to proven success across enterprise use cases like loss prevention. Join Sean at this round table to discuss ways in which:

1. RFID solutions mean that any goods that are stolen are replenished much faster, thus reducing the overall impact of lost sales
2. RFID Tags can also ensure stolen items can be returned to the retailer much faster when found
3. Digitizing loss prevention gives retailers more insights and data to deter theft and take a proactive approach to combating the growing challenge of retail crime.

Rhythm Snowsports has been in operation for almost 40 years, starting as a small ski hire attached to a service station and growing to offer a 24-hour service in winter in one of the largest snow stores in the southern hemisphere. They believe that the Snow and mountains are for everyone so we are committed to offering rental and equipment for all budgets. They love to push the envelope of what is possible, “innovation is in our DNA, and creating an awesome customer experience is what drives us every day!”

Naomi has been living in the Snowy Mountains for 17 years, she has a passion for the mountains and outdoor life snowboarding and mountain biking. Having always worked in technology roles being in the Snowy Mountains offers the perfect way to meld the two passions at a place like Rhythm Snowsports.

Kathryn McEwen
Global Lead
Working with Resilience

Harnessing the power of collective resilience

Psychosocial risk management: how do you build a resilient and healthy workforce?

Resilience is core to retail success.  Anticipating and preparing for all aspects of disruption is essential for business survival. 

Creating a resilient and healthy workforce is central in any organisation, not just for regulatory compliance but because social change is driving expectations of what makes a good day at work.

With most attention having focussed on individual resilience, the capacity of teams to transform organisations has been overlooked. 

Kathryn will provide a research-based approach to building collective resilience.  This can be used for teams to self-identify and address their psychosocial hazards, while generating real time insights and data that inform organisational strategic risk management.

Participants will take away insights for themselves, their teams and their organisation.

Following her presentation Kathryn will host a round table discussion where she will take a deeper dive into the Resilience at Work Toolkit framework. She will explore the components of personal and team resilience – with participants identifying which components reflect both their personal and team strengths and development needs. This will be an interactive session involving reflection and sharing.

Kathryn McEwen is the Global Lead of Working With Resilience (www.resilience.tv) and the Co-Founder of Click, a leading edge app and platform that allows to teams to continually build and track resilience and effectiveness through focussed management of critical psychosocial hazards (www.letsclick.io).

Drawing on her extensive experience as an organisational psychologist, coach and mediator, she has authored three books on workplace resilience and led development of the Resilience at Work Toolkit – a set of validated measures of personal, team and leader resilience which have been published in the academic literature.  Her World-first approach to systemically building resilience at work is used by practitioners across 16 countries and in more than 150 university resilience studies globally.

Chris Thorne
Group Retail Profit and Asset Protection Manager APAC
JD Sports Plc

Internal dishonesty – how to identify and investigate it?

Join Chris to hear how JD Sports are tackling the problem of internal dishonesty

Chris looks at how internal dishonesty impacts retailers and reviews the causes, and the success the Group has had investigating these incidents.

Chris joined the JD Sports Group in late 2019 as a Regional Profit Protection manager focusing on Kent and the Southern Counties in the UK and, following three promotions, is now Group Profit and Asset Manager, responsible for APAC. Prior to JD Sports, Chris served eight years in the British Army with the 4th Battalion of the Rifles as a reconnaissance team leader. In 2008 he left the army and worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a security consultant spending five years in Helmand province, Afghanistan and seven years in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Scott Taylor
Managing Director
Praesidium Risk & Resilience

The 45-second intent assessment

How do you assess customer intent while still giving great customer service?

The Retail Industry has a unique risk landscape, and it is imperative that the security countermeasures implemented are supported by commensurate training that is impactful and workable in dynamic environments. In this session, Scott will provide knowledge on how to enhance awareness of customer intent whilst underpinning it with a customer service approach. The reduced arm movement, increased blink rate and hiding of thumbs you may see in that initial approach all have meaning, and in this session you will learn what those meanings are.

Sarann Ryan
CIO and Chief Advisor
Lowes Manhattan

Steve Schenk
Managing Director
Look Inventory Solutions

Why data is key to achieving sustainability

Join Steve and Sarann for a dynamic discussion on inventory accuracy in apparel retail

Saran and Steve will discuss:

• Why addressing inventory accuracy is so important in apparel retail
• Why the reduction in apparel waste and the path to sustainability and DPPs must be addressed
• The importance of data in ESG reporting compliance and the risk of not having it.

Trav Heaven
Founder
Duress

The 3 steps to reduce customer aggression by 75%

See how discretion, communication and escalation are keeping retail teams safe across Australia

From delivery drivers at Coles to servers at McDonalds, see how they are being kept safe using this three-step process.

Emmeline Taylor
Professor of Criminology
City, University of London

From Fortress Stores to driving legislative change: responding to the retail crime epidemic

How can we encourage law enforcers to take retail crime seriously?

Described as ‘out of control’ and an ‘epidemic’ in the UK, many countries have a similar retail crime problem. In this keynote address, Professor Emmeline Taylor will outline the actions that the industry can take when law enforcement has effectively decriminalised theft. Starting with the ‘7 Strategic Principles for Risk Mitigation’ from the groundbreaking Fortress Stores project, the address will move on to outline the power of collaboration to change legislation and encourage law enforcers to take retail crime seriously.

Emmeline Taylor is Professor of Criminology at City, University of London. She specialises in understanding acquisitive crime and business crime, particularly focusing on the retail sector. Professor Taylor’s career spans over 20 years, during which time she has worked in the public, private and academic sectors, and on three continents. Professor Taylor has published extensively on crime-related topics, including six books, the most recent of which, Armed Robbers: Identity and Cultural Mythscapes in the Lucky Country (Oxford University Press, 2022), is based on interviews with 42 offenders in prison in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

Emmeline has published several reports on retail crime and criminal justice, including: It’s Not Part of the Job: Violence and Verbal Abuse Towards Shop Workers (Co-op, 2019) and Fortress Stores: How to Keep Most-at-Risk Stores Trading (ECR, 2023). 

Working closely with industry, the police and the UK Government, Professor Taylor holds many appointments including sitting on the UK National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) chaired by theMinister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire.

Emmeline hosts the podcast Retail Crime Uncovered, which focuses on how to identify and tackle retail crime in all its forms.

Mo Nagi
Group Loss Prevention Manager
Chemist Warehouse

Nicholas Kirtley
Country Manager, Australia
Riskified

Unveiling the hidden truth: false declines and missed opportunities in fraud management

A staggering 66% of orders declined by merchants are, in fact, legitimate. Enter behavioural analytics…

When it comes to devising strategies for managing fraud, many merchants find themselves grappling with outdated approaches that result in false declines and lost potential. Startlingly, our internal data reveals that a staggering 66% of orders declined by merchants are, in fact, legitimate. Rule-based systems, which lack the advantage of data enrichment, often overlook valuable insights, such as a customer shopping from a new location without updating their billing information. Instead, they flag these occurrences as fraudulent, imposing substantial costs on merchants. However, behavioural analytics emerge as a powerful solution, offering an effective means of determining order legitimacy. Join us to uncover the hidden truth behind false declines and explore the missed opportunities in fraud management.

Paul Bessant’s The Risk Factor

Paul Bessant
Founder
Retail Knowledge

Victoria Burge-Thomas
Head of Profit Protection
Kmart & Target Aus/NZ

Emmeline Taylor
Professor of Criminology
City, University of London

David Pardoe
Head of Profit Protection
The Works

Austin Craddock
Smarter Profit Manager – Fraud & Security
Coles

Join Top 100 Global Retail Influencer Paul Bessant and guests for some big-picture thinking about protecting retail from crime and loss.

Simon Herron
CEO
Vix Vizion

Frank Havelka
Business Development Manager
Vix Vizion

Best practices when using Facial Recognition technology in the retail space

A discussion on implementing and operating FR, and addressing privacy considerations

This round table session will cover:

• What to consider when implementing and operating a Facial Recognition solution to address threats to staff safety and theft
• How to address privacy considerations in light of the current environment.

Darren Bretherton
Retail Operations Software Specialist
Zebra

What are you doing to increase stock accuracy?

Best practice examples of how global retailers are clawing back profits

If 10% of profits are lost every year, on average, due to inaccurate inventory records, there’s a major opportunity to make a meaningful impact to the bottom line. Join this roundtable to discuss industry best practice examples of how global retailers are clawing back profits and transforming their stock counting process. The discussion will cover:

• Improving on-shelf availability
• Minimizing theft & loss
• Boosting brand perception.

Bo LI
Regional Director Project Sales Business
Dahua Technology Oceania, Australia and New Zealand

What can AI and machine learning do for your business?

How to enhance retail security and the in-store customer experience

Join Bo for an exploration of the technology available and the outcomes achievable when these technologies are customised to meet individual business requirements. This is a must-attend for retail professionals seeking to elevate their operations and strategic outlook in the dynamic retail environment.

As a guest speaker, Bo Li offers invaluable insights into transforming challenges into opportunities, leading through innovation, and cultivating high-performance teams in the dynamic retail landscape. His experiences, ranging from ground-breaking product launches to strategic market expansions, make him an inspiring figure for anyone looking to excel or implement technology, leadership, and global business development.

Bo Li is a distinguished C Level executive renowned for transforming brands into market leaders within the Australia and New Zealand markets.

His experience spans roles such as the Director at Huawei Australia, focusing on the Telstra Consumer Business Department, and Account Director for ZTE Australia/NZ with Telstra, where he led significant growth and strategic partnerships.

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