A key pillar of Coles loss prevention strategy is technology. The Coles Smarter Profit team are committed to continually exploring, trialling, and rolling out innovative risk mitigation solutions that will reduce our stock loss. The widely reported $100m stock loss reductions achieved in F24 have been tech-enabled to a significant degree.
The vehicle that provides the cadence and enables business-wide support to institute these solutions is the Smarter Profit Innovation Store. In nutshell, this is a single store where the latest loss prevention initiatives, from a variety of vendors, can be trailed in a real store environment whilst we assess suitability for a wider Coles deployment. Apart from the obvious tactical benefits for the Smarter Profit team of testing and assessing, perhaps the biggest benefit comes from having a single store where other business stakeholders can be taken to see these proposals in one place. In a business the size of Coles, executive endorsement is vital and the Innovation Store provides the perfect solution for efficient demonstration when dealing with busy people.
The Smarter Profit technology forum is the first step in this process. A working group of business stakeholders including Loss, Safety, IT, Finance, and Compliance come together each month to review presentations from shortlisted vendors. From here, each solution is scored and a decision is made whether to move to a live installation in the Innovation store (post the requisite approvals, bench testing etc).
The innovation store has been the birthplace of several recent initiatives that have been rolled out with significant success. In the last year Coles has produced spectacular loss reductions off the back of the Itab Smart Gates and Everseen skip-scan deployments. These solutions are already live in over half the fleet and are showing enormous benefits in mitigating loss through the Assisted Check-out area. Another initiative rolled out extensively is the Fog Bandit intruder deterrent which has proven to be extremely effective against break & enters. Victoria Police recently advised Coles that the reduction in tobacco burglaries at Coles was a result of the offender awareness of the fog solution.
Currently the Innovation Store has several risk management solutions in action. Wrong-way Detection camera analytics (Axis) alerts when people exit via our entry gates. This is about to be rolled out to 200 stores. Auror ANPR has also been expanded to dozens of selected stores. Veesion behaviour detection is operational in the Innovation store, sending alerts for in-aisle concealment of products. We also have weighted shelves (proving very effective for infant formula) and Move Alert, which sends notifications when large amounts of stock are taken from shelves in high-risk areas (vitamins and meat). The integration between our CCTV and alarm system that has been live in the Innovation Store is also commencing a national roll-out.
The Smarter Profit Innovation Store is undoubtedly the key enabler for Coles’ recent appetite for innovative risk solutions. The ability to get cut-through from the executive level decision makers is testament to the importance of live demonstration. There is nothing like seeing a solution in real life, and the walk-throughs being regularly conducted at the Innovation Store are fast-tracking endorsement and moving on solutions at pace. Coles recent loss reductions are the proof of these solutions at work and the Innovation Store is what will keep Coles at the forefront of technical innovation adoption.