Case Study: National Retail Chain-Store reduces ORC theft and inventory shrinkage, achieving significant ROI with FraudFighter AsseTag®

How National Retail Chain-stores Can Combat Orc-related Theft and Realize Significant Roi Using Visible and Non-visible Marking of Store-level Inventory

National Retail Chain Store, a large international chain operating thousands of locations across North America, was facing severe inventory shrinkage from organized retail crime (ORC), with losses in targeted categories as high as 5–9% and annual shrinkage reaching roughly $80 million. The retailer engaged FraudFighter to find an alternative to costly, visible RFID labels that were labor-intensive, easy for thieves to remove, and sometimes damaged product packaging.

FraudFighter implemented its AsseTag® visible and covert ink stamping system—store‑specific stamp heads and indelible inks that can be seen overtly or activated under UV for covert tracing. The change cut marking time from 5.6 to 1.3 seconds per item (about 60 labor hours saved per store at 50,000 marks), reduced per‑mark material cost from $0.0195 to $0.009, and delivered annual per‑store benefits of $1,955 (labor $480 + materials $475 + asset recovery $1,000), yielding better than a 4:1 ROI; the solution is currently being trialed in 50 stores.