Retail Solutions - IntelliQ aids Bhs in fight against internal fraud

Mid-market homewares and fashion retailer Bhs has boosted its attempts at internal loss prevention with a solution from IntelliQ.

The solution, which was originally developed to help national security services process surveillance data, helps the retailer to monitor EPoS and returns data directly from the checkout, to identify vulnerabilities to internal fraud.

Bhs identified£60,000-worth of loss during the initial trial, so it immediately stopped the pilot and started to roll out the solution. However, the system is intended to be more of a deterrent than a surveillance tool.

Bhs head of loss prevention Nigel Terry said: 'We've communicated strongly across the business that we have implemented this software. It's about prevention, not detection.'

Internal fraud in retail is a fact of life, but is not often discussed by retailers. Analysts predict that installing loss-prevention systems can have a massive impact on the bottom line, because internal shrinkage comes straight out of the store's profit margin.