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One loss-prevention director, twelve stores, 27 percent fewer incidents

Mike Wimpy used to feel like he was chasing his workday. Now, he says, everybody knows he is everywhere. What changed at McKeever Enterprise.

By Allison Lilly · 2 min read
Customer SpeakRetail
Supermarket shelves stocked with packaged goods, seen from above
Grocery shelves. McKeever Enterprise runs twelve grocery stores. Its published results with Spot AI: 27 percent fewer incidents, 75 percent fewer self-checkout theft cases. Photo: Swarup Sarkar / Pexels

"Before Spot, I felt like I was constantly chasing my workday," Mike Wimpy says in Spot AI's published account of the deployment at McKeever Enterprise. "I could never get in front of anything." He is the director of loss prevention for twelve grocery stores, and the only one.

The results the company reports are specific: total incidents down 27 percent across the twelve stores, self-checkout theft cases down 75 percent, external shoplifting cases down 20 percent, employee theft cases down 27 percent. What the account explains is how a single person got there.

Being seen to be there

Wimpy's own explanation is about being seen to be there.

I'm able to have more of a presence because of Spot. Even though I'm just one person, I'm everywhere, and everybody knows that.

And the follow-on, which any loss-prevention veteran will recognise: "The more employees see me tackling issues like theft, the less likely they are to try it themselves." An LP director who can pull a clip from any store within minutes acquires that reputation quickly.

The police line

One detail says more about the change than the percentages. Wimpy now brings video to law enforcement as a matter of routine.

When I present a case to police with video clips from Spot AI, officers will often tell me, "Nobody ever does that. Thank you."

From the officer's side, a case arrives with the footage already found, trimmed and attached. Going by the officers' reaction, that is rare.

Why it stuck

Software in a grocery chain has to survive people who did not ask for it. Wimpy's stated reason for choosing the system had nothing to do with the model. "The selling point for me was how familiar and easy it felt to use, almost like using YouTube." You search, scrub, clip, and share. The video agent underneath surfaces the events; the interface on top had to feel like something everyone already knew.

He is also direct about the vendor relationship: "I know the Spot team will do everything they can to help, no matter the situation. It's more than just a platform."

Where the time goes now

Strip the numbers away and the story is about what one person's time is spent on. In his words, "I'm able to do so much more, and that's amazing." If you are the one LP director for a dozen stores, how much of your week goes to chasing?