Amber Bradley
Editor-in-Chief, TalkLPnews
Welcome back to The EDGE.
Issue one apparently struck a nerve — in a good way. A lot of you wrote back, and the theme I kept hearing was: finally, someone saying the quiet part out loud about what it actually takes to sell in this space.
That's the whole point. This publication exists for vendors who are serious about becoming the kind of partner LP executives actually want in the room. Issue two keeps going in that direction. Tell me what you need more of. This thing gets better when you talk back.
My best,
Amber
Three LP Concepts Vendors Need to Actually Understand
If you're selling into the loss prevention space, you've probably heard executives throw around terms like "shrink," "ORC," and "total loss." You may even nod along. But there's a good chance you're picturing something simpler than what these executives are actually dealing with. Here are three concepts worth getting right before your next sales call.
Shrink is not just theft
Most vendors assume shrink means someone stole something. That's part of it. But the number on an LP executive's dashboard includes a lot more: expired product that didn't sell in time, perishables that went bad because a buyer overbought, pharmacy vaccines sitting in a cooler after a mild flu season, and administrative errors no one caught. At a grocery chain, fresh product alone can account for three times the shrink dollars of all center-store items combined.
Why does this matter to you? Because a solution that only addresses theft touches a fraction of the problem. When LP executives push back on ROI projections, they're often thinking about how much of their shrink your product doesn't actually solve.
Concept 1 — Key terms | ||
|---|---|---|
Shrink Total inventory loss from all causes, not just theft | Perishable shrink Loss from unsold fresh product that expires | Known loss Product written off intentionally (donate, damage) |
Unknown loss Inventory gap with no clear explanation | Administrative loss Shrink from errors, miscounts, or process failures | Sell-through % of received product that actually sells before expiration |
Diversion: buying your own stolen product back
This one surprises a lot of people outside the industry. When organized retail crime rings steal product at scale, especially health and beauty items and OTC medicines, a good portion of it doesn't end up on eBay. It gets cleaned, repackaged, and sold back into legitimate retail supply chains through wholesalers. Buyers who are chasing price incentives may not know they're purchasing stolen goods. Some of the wholesalers involved are major, well-established names.
Ben Dugan, who spent decades building ORC investigations at CVS, put it plainly: retailers can end up buying their own stolen product back. The investigation trail runs from the store that got hit all the way to another retailer's distribution center receiving the same merchandise.
If your product touches supply chain verification, sourcing intelligence, or vendor credentialing, this is the conversation you should be having. Most vendors never bring it up.
Concept 2 — Key terms | ||
|---|---|---|
Diversion Stolen goods cleaned, repackaged, and re-entered into legitimate supply chains | ORC Organized retail crime — coordinated, large-scale theft rings | Fencing Selling stolen goods through a third party to obscure origin |
Wholesaler vetting Verifying a supplier's sourcing before purchasing inventory | Product tracing Following stolen goods through the supply chain to their destination | HBA Health and beauty aids — primary diversion target category |
Total loss vs. inventory shortage
LP executives increasingly distinguish between "known" loss and "unknown" loss. Known loss is product that was donated, marked damaged, or written off deliberately. Unknown loss is the gap no one can explain. Both count. At companies like Kroger, both go into the shrink number.
This matters because it changes what "solving shrink" actually means. It's not just catching the shoplifter. It's tracking promotional sell-through by store, watching distribution center inventory before bad product ships, coordinating with buying and merchandising in real time. The LP function at a major grocer is embedded in decisions that happen well before a customer walks through the door.
Vendors who understand this sell differently. They stop positioning their product as a theft deterrent and start talking about where in that broader chain their solution creates visibility.
Concept 3 — Key terms | ||
|---|---|---|
Total loss All loss across the supply chain, not just store-level theft | Inventory shortage The measurable gap between expected and actual stock on hand | Shrink number The metric LP execs are held accountable to, including known and unknown loss |
PI (physical inventory) Scheduled full store count to measure actual vs. recorded inventory | DSD Direct store delivery — vendor-managed restocking with its own shrink risk | Supply chain leakage Loss occurring before product reaches the store floor |
Take Some Advice from LP Execs
Joe Coll
Former VP of Loss Prevention, Chief Commercial Officer, Global Security Solutions (GSS)
"I would take the person who says 'I happen to be in New York, would you love to get a cup of coffee and talk about what's on your mind?' versus the cold callers who bought somebody's phone number and started calling — and might be selling something that isn't even in my purview of responsibility."
One-on-One Time with LP Executives
Are you looking for ONE-ON-ONE interaction with DECISION MAKERS?
If so, sponsoring the Asset Protection Executive Xchange (APEX) conference is where it’s at.
APEX is an executive only, invite-only conference for retail, grocery, convenience stores and restaurants.
You CHOOSE who you’d like to spend time with. Real relationship building outside the standard pitch vs. pitchee environments.
Contact Amber Bradley for more information before we sell out!
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Artificial Intelligence is all the rage these days and Loss Prevention professionals are not immune to the hype (or realities). LP pros of all types are rapidly learning how AI can help them. At TalkLPnews, we create original content that helps LP professionals expand their skill set and question the status quo. To that end, we created AI in LP: The Beginner’s Playbook. Solution providers who take the time to learn what and how LP people operate can relate to them and their goals better. Download and review the TalkLPnews AI in LP: The Beginner’s Playbook here.