In a move to check thefts at retail stores, Retail Business Solutions (RBS) has deployed SeeWhy to power their new real time software as a service (SAAS) fraud analytic system. The system has been fully integrated with the Retail-J EPOS platform and is the first real time SAAS offering for loss prevention in the retail market.
A major high street fashion retailer is the first customer to sign up for the service and is using the service live across the UK with a rollout to the US planned in the near future.
“We are delighted to be working with SeeWhy on this new and exciting loss prevention service. Up until now retailers have been forced to purchase expensive software and systems integration in order to detect insider fraud.
This new service can be switched on immediately, enabling retailers to go live within a matter of days, and only pay for what they are using. This combination offers huge savings over traditional data mining offerings, and brings state of the art,” said Steve Watson, Director of RBS.
Insider fraud is a significant problem for the retail industry. According to a survey by National Retail Federation, businesses lost $41.6 billion in the US in 2006. Employee theft accounted for $19.5 billion, or nearly half of all retail losses, reports CRM.
“We are hosting and running the service as part of our Portfolio and expect to roll it out to many of our Retail-J clients. RBS is the leading supplier of Retail-J to well known brands including Harrods, La Senza, French Connection, Selfridges, Warehouse and Wyevale Garden Centres,” Watson said.
SeeWhy detects patterns of behavior indicating theft, till abuse and staff and customer fraud. With SeeWhy profiles at the heart of the service, unprecedented fraud detection rates are being realized with very low false positive rates, translating into significant bottom line increases.
The first customer, a major high street fashion retailer, has ensured that the service is up and running throughout the UK in time for Christmas, a prime time for fraudulent behavior. It delivers real time alerts to regional managers to warn them of a variety of fraudulent activity including credit card fraud, refund and till abuse.
SeeWhys real time analytics engine automatically builds individual profiles of each member of staff so that subtle changes in behavior can be detected immediately.
Profiling detects more fraud earlier, and with a dramatic improvement in the hit rate compared with traditional approaches. This new RBS service enables the retailer to ensure that all employees stay on the straight and narrow, meeting the employers need to demonstrate a duty of care and making a significant impact on the bottom line explained Charles Nicholls, CEO & Founder of SeeWhy Software.
