Discount retailer TK Maxx is to roll out a data-mining system to identify fraudulent activity and process errors.

The retailer’s loss prevention team has outgrown its existing system and wanted software that could identify patterns of activity on the shopfloor that would indicate loss.

The LossManager system from IDM Software can analyse data from a variety of sources, including EPoS, CCTV and electronic article surveillance tagging systems. TK Maxx will begin using the system by analysing point-of-sale data in the system and will load between three and six months of historical data initially.

TK Maxx manager of loss prevention Liz Ferris said: “To begin with we will use LossManager to identify embedded fraud and loss committed by employees and, in some cases, our customers.

“We also expect to identify systematic and operational exposures in our stores that we can work to resolve. Once we’ve achieved this first step we will look to expand the use of the tool to help with other operational areas of loss.”

The system is designed to be unrestricted in the analysis it can perform. This maximises the insight different retailers can gain from it. As well as pre-defined reports, TK Maxx will be able to run analysis that is most appropriate to its business and deal with changing issues.

IDM Software chief executive Khuram Kirmani said a retailer should expect a return from the system within a year and that it will be particularly valuable to TK Maxx because of the speed of its stock turnover and variation in products over time.

He added that the retailer’s loss prevention team will need only a couple of days’ training to be up and running on the system, which is designed to fit with how they work.