As we step into 2025, it’s clear that retailers are coming off a year filled with evolving challenges. Organized retail crime (ORC), return and claims fraud, and rising operational costs remained front and center in 2024. Technology, particularly AI and automation, played a critical role in tackling these challenges while reshaping retail loss prevention strategies.
To help retailers hit the ground running in 2025, we’ve gathered the best insights from industry experts to highlight the key retail loss prevention technology trends, challenges, and opportunities to watch. From advancements in AI-driven tools, to strategies for combating fraud and protecting profits, this Q&A-style blog delivers the information you need to stay ahead this year.
Retail Loss Prevention Technology Trends in 2024: Expert Insights
Addressing Return Fraud, Retail Abuse, and Organized Retail Crime
Pedro Ramos, Chief Revenue Officer at Appriss Retail, brings over two decades of expertise in fraud, loss prevention, and retail operations. With a deep understanding of the industry and a strong focus on customer growth and retention, Pedro provides valuable insights into tackling challenges like return fraud, retail abuse, and organized retail crime (ORC).
Q: What were the top emerging retail loss prevention technology trends for organized retail crime (ORC) in 2024?
“Although not completely resolved by any means, it appears that physical smash-and-grab incidents have at least quieted down in the media. Retailers are opening or remodeling stores with product protection integrated into their planograms, a strategy reflecting current retail loss prevention technology trends. This approach will undoubtedly impact the ability of ORC rings to target retailers. However, there are a growing number of articles questioning the potential impact of product protection measures on sales. This issue remains significant, with no easy answers, and continues to evolve.”
Q: What was the impact of return fraud in 2024, and which patterns and methods stood out?
“Return fraud remains one of the top concerns for retail executives.”
“Recent data shows that return fraud across all channels averages 15%. However, when examining individual channels and behaviors, the numbers vary significantly. In our recently released 2024 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry Report, we leverage our extensive database to provide the retail community with deeper, data-driven insights into return fraud, aligning with current retail loss prevention technology trends. What we observe is a higher level of professionalism in return and claim fraud across the board, with increasing sophistication and targeted efforts aimed at specific retailers, locations, and products.”
Q: What are the most effective strategies for identifying and preventing return fraud while maintaining a positive customer experience?
“Leveraging technology and taking the decision away from store associates or call center associates is essential. Whenever a retailer puts an associate in a position of having to police a customer interaction, it’s a recipe for a bad interaction. One-size-fits-all policies don’t account for the full customer value and create unnecessary friction between the customer and the associate. The best approach is to have technology provide the decision, removing conflict.”
Q: What are the key technology gaps for Loss Prevention teams when it comes to detecting and preventing Organized Retail Crime (ORC)?
“Data that identifies if a specific retailer is being targeted by organized retail crime is a great starting point. ORC-based incident management solutions are highly effective at applying AI to create patterns in the data. Retailers don’t need dedicated ORC resources to benefit from these solutions; they can identify patterns that lead to proactive measures to reduce the impact. For example, a retailer may be able to identify specific products or locations that are being targeted and implement protective measures in those areas, such as reducing the exposure of vulnerable products or applying additional preventive measures.”
Q: Retail loss prevention technology trends are showing that fraudulent claims and appeasements are a costly concern for retailers, but they also impact the experience of good customers, too. What innovations or shifts do you anticipate in claims and appeasement processes in 2025, and how should retailers prepare?
“As with return fraud, we are seeing increased sophistication across stores, online, and call centers. The solution lies in having an application that can create risk profiles across these channels to enable informed decision-making. For example, we’ve observed instances where single entities file claims for items not received and then coordinate returns in stores using the online receipt credited as part of the claim. These aren’t isolated incidents; the same entity might return the same item multiple times at different stores. While policies or POS controls may be in place, they are often overridden by store associates.”
AI Innovations & Technology Advancements for Loss Prevention Teams in 2025
Amy Wilson, Chief Product Officer at Appriss Retail, brings extensive experience in data analytics, product strategy, and digital advertising. She provides valuable insights into retail loss prevention technology trends, exploring how advancements in AI are helping teams combat retail shrink and adapt to evolving challenges in the industry.
Q: How have advancements and recent retail loss prevention technology trends helped loss prevention teams work more efficiently in 2024, and what specific challenges have been addressed?
“Retail loss prevention technology trends are showing advances in camera technologies, such as edge cameras and facial recognition, along with the growing adoption of existing technologies like RFID, are ushering in a new era of automation. These innovations have already delivered significant efficiencies in their respective domains. However, the true power of these technologies is realized when their data is integrated into a unified system for analysis at scale. While each of these technologies operates effectively in isolation, their combined potential becomes truly transformative when integrated.”
“A system that consolidates data from these disparate sources not only creates greater operational efficiency but also uncovers deeper insights that would be impossible with any single solution alone. Appriss® Secure EBR (Exception Based Reporting) exemplifies this vision.”
“By integrating data from multiple sources, Appriss Secure EBR (Exception Based Reporting) enables organizations to manage, analyze, and respond to information across a variety of systems. This comprehensive approach enhances decision-making, improves operational performance, and delivers a level of value that surpasses the capabilities of individual technologies.”
Q: What types of incentives do you predict will encourage customers to make new purchases after a return in 2025, and how can new technology support these efforts?
“Offering a discount at the point of return can create a powerful ‘surprise and delight’ effect for loyal customers who already have an established affinity for a brand or retailer. When done strategically, these targeted discounts not only enhance the customer experience but also strengthen brand loyalty, fostering a sense of exclusivity and reward for those who have consistently engaged with the brand. To maximize the benefits of such offers while safeguarding profit margins, it’s crucial to take an analytics-based approach.”
“By leveraging data insights, brands can identify the right timing and target the correct customer segments, ensuring that discounts are delivered strategically to maximize customer lifetime value (CLV) without unnecessarily eroding profit margins.”
“Appriss® Engage Incentive Optimization leverages retail loss prevention technology trends to enable this data-driven approach. By using advanced analytics to fine-tune promotional offers, the platform helps retailers craft timely incentives that drive loyalty and maximize returns. At the same time, it ensures that promotions protect margins, so businesses can deliver value to customers without compromising profitability. This optimized approach not only delights customers but also enhances the long-term success of the brand.”
Q: What operational efficiencies can loss prevention teams expect when adopting AI-driven tools, and how can these efficiencies translate into measurable results?
“AI-driven tools have the remarkable ability to rapidly identify patterns in vast datasets—patterns that would be nearly impossible for a human to spot quickly. By incorporating AI into already powerful software solutions, businesses can significantly enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. In the context of Loss Prevention (LP), AI tools can help teams accomplish far more with the same number of analysts and investigators, transforming the way incidents are detected, analyzed, and addressed. This is exactly what Appriss Retail’s Incident + ORC Intelligence does for Loss Prevention teams. By integrating AI-powered intelligence into its platform, Appriss Retail enables teams to quickly surface suspicious activity, detect organized retail crime (ORC) patterns, and link cases, all without increasing the size of the team. AI helps pinpoint anomalies and correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed, allowing loss prevention teams to focus their efforts where they’re most needed and reduce time spent on manual investigation.”
Q: How do you see advancements in AI and automation evolving in 2025 to further support loss prevention teams in combating retail shrink and fraud?
“One of the emerging retail loss prevention technology trends is the increasing pressure on store managers and teams to take on some tasks that were once the domain of centralized analysts and investigators. As the responsibilities of store teams continue to grow, it’s simply not realistic for them to develop the ‘expert user’ efficiency needed to create complex queries to analyze large datasets—especially when they already have a wide range of operational tasks to manage. To address this challenge, Appriss Retail is launching SecureGPT in early 2025. Building on our core AI capabilities, SecureGPT will empower non-expert users to harness the full power of the Secure platform without needing advanced technical skills. Through an intuitive, easy-to-use chat interface, store teams will be able to query massive datasets using natural language, asking questions the same way they would converse with a colleague. This empowers them to make data-driven decisions without being data experts.”
“This democratization of AI-powered tools marks a significant step forward in making powerful analytics accessible to all users, no matter their technical background.”
Looking Ahead: Tackling Total Retail Loss in 2025 with Emerging Retail Loss Prevention Technology Trends
Michael Osborne, CEO of Appriss Retail, brings over two decades of experience leading innovation in B2B ecommerce, marketing technology, and enterprise software industries. In this section, Michael shares his expert insights on the critical retail loss prevention technology trends and advancements that will shape retail loss prevention in 2025.
Q: How do you see organized retail crime evolving in 2025, and what proactive measures should retailers consider to stay ahead?
“Retailers lose billions each year to organized retail crime, which is becoming increasingly sophisticated by exploiting supply chain weaknesses and using advanced technology. By 2025, ORC groups are expected to intensify coordination and scale theft and fraud through tools like bots, fake receipt generators, and encrypted apps. For retailers, staying ahead requires an equally sophisticated approach—leveraging advanced tools like generative AI-powered incident tracking, real-time intelligence sharing, and cross-channel fraud detection. Embracing these retail loss prevention technology trends now will help retailers build a strong defense against fraud. Additionally, collaboration with law enforcement and other retailers will play a crucial role in dismantling these networks, protecting profits, and fostering a safer environment for employees and customers.”
Q: Based on current retail loss prevention technology trends, how do you predict return fraud will evolve in 2025, and what role will advanced analytics and AI play in mitigating it?
“As we look toward 2025, return fraud—particularly claims and appeasements—will escalate alongside the continued growth of omnichannel retail. With consumers engaging across online, in-store, and call center touchpoints, fraudsters will exploit every channel to commit fraudulent returns and claims like ‘item not received’ (INR) and ‘did not arrive’ (DNA). To counter this, advanced analytics and AI will be absolutely critical. By harnessing AI-driven solutions, retailers can rapidly detect and analyze patterns of fraud across all touchpoints in real-time, providing actionable insights to approve or deny suspicious returns and claims. This technology enables retailers to significantly reduce fraudulent activity while maintaining a seamless, positive experience for legitimate customers. In 2025, the key will be leveraging AI to strike the perfect balance—protecting the bottom line while fostering customer trust and loyalty.”
Q: How do you foresee the relationship between customer experience and loss prevention developing in 2025?
“In 2025, the relationship between customer experience and loss prevention will be more interconnected than ever. Retailers will need to deliver a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience while effectively guarding against fraud and abuse. With data showing that 31% of customers stop shopping with a retailer after a bad returns experience, it’s clear that one-size-fits-all policies are no longer effective. To strike the right balance, retailers must leverage advanced technologies like AI-powered fraud detection, real-time transaction monitoring, and return authorization systems to prevent losses while maintaining customer satisfaction. AI will help enable retailers to flag suspicious activity preemptively without causing delays or friction for legitimate customers, ensuring the shopping experience remains smooth.”
“The ability to protect the business without disrupting the customer journey will define success in 2025—retailers that achieve this balance will cultivate loyalty and competitive advantage.”
