NEWS ROUND-UP
Global Retail Crime Summit is a marathon success
The world’s first marathon Global Retail Crime Summit has been heralded as an international success by its organisers.
The event which took place over a 13-hour period across different time zones on July 16 brought together retail AP/LP professionals and Law Enforcement from all over the world to interact with live sessions focussed upon the challenging agendas of risk and loss prevention – without delegates having to leave their own homes.
There had been virtual conferences in loss prevention before, but never one as ambitious as this summit which showcased multiple opportunities for delegates to review the presentations in line with the particular time zones they are in.
More than 1000 delegates joined the free event to explore the new post-COVID world of loss prevention and organised retail crime from as far afield as North America, the UK and Europe and the APAC regions of Australia and New Zealand.
The event, organised by New Zealand based retail crime intelligence platform Auror, attracted a number of global loss prevention and asset protection speakers as well as contributors from the world of law enforcement.
“The Summit was a great success – everyone has been very complimentary of the quality of the speakers, content, and the virtual experience.” said organiser Marcus Hoefliger from Auror.
“We managed to achieve really high attendance and the feedback has been really positive from the surveys that have come back so far.”.
“The sweet spot was that it was a free to join event and there were great speakers bringing a lot of knowledge and experience to the attention of people who ordinarily would not be able to travel to attend, all of whom had the ability to engage with the presenters.
“It allowed important learning and huge opportunities for networking on a global scale. We designed the summit with the view to bring law enforcement together with retail with key sessions being repeated later in the day for the audiences joining in their own time zones, wherever they are in the world.
Participants included retailers such as Kroger, Home Depot, JC Penney, Bunnings, and Coles, as well as expert opinion and commentary from the likes of Wicklander-Zulawski, the Loss Prevention Research Council and the ECR Retail Loss Group.
Marcus and his team, who worked more than 30-hours straight to deliver the event, added: “We are still waiting for all the feedback before announcing our plans for next year, but it was incredible to see the initial vision of bringing the industry together to share, learn, and discover new approaches to dealing with today’s challenges come true at such a critical time of need ”
For those who missed the live event, replays for some sessions will be announced in the coming weeks. To register your interest in viewing the recordings please visit www.retailcrimesummit.com
