Retail NZ has come out with a survey showing that 92 percent of the nearly 300 businesses had been affected by crime in the past year, up from 81 percent in the 2017 survey.
This is perfect timing as it’s an example of the findings that Phil Thomson, co-founder and CEO of Auror, can speak confidently about.
Auror has helped over 80 percent of New Zealand retailers to reduce losses over the past decade, including Briscoes Group, The Warehouse, and Woolworths (Countdown). The Kiwi platform provides a preventative approach where retailers can report instances of retail crime instantly and share intelligence with other retailers and, most importantly, the Police - helping to reduce crime in New Zealand overall.
“It’s disheartening to hear that the sheer economic impact of retail crime is costing us over $2.56b, and it’s something we’re seeing not only happening in New Zealand but also globally across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia where Auror operates,” said Thomson.
“At Auror, we have seen almost a 10 percent uptick in reported violence and threatening behaviour through data collected via our platform at a retail level in the last six months.”
Thomson continued that although 84 percent of all retail crime is reported to Police via our platform, unfortunately, many more cases remain unreported, making this issue all the more pressing and challenging to tackle.
He explained that it was also known that 10 percent of people are causing 60 percent of the loss and harm experienced in New Zealand, which was why Auror was created. To empower the retail community to stop crime, reduce loss, and make stores safer.
Auror partners with the New Zealand Police to ensure effective and efficient crime reporting by retailers. This enables Police to focus on those perpetuating the most loss and harm in New Zealand’s communities.
