Sales reducing activities (SRAs)
Sales reducing activities (SRAs) are activities within a business, especially at the point of sale, that reduce sales volume incorrectly, as measured by number of transactions, size of transaction, and/or price of items sold.
What are sales reducing activities?
Sales reducing activities (SRAs) are basically any events that cause a decrease in sales. In this case, sales can mean a decreased number of sales, number of items per sale, the sales price of a specific item, or any other sales volume metrics.
For example, returns decrease sales by canceling out a previous sale. Out of stock items cause a lost sale, which is one form of operational shrink. Discounts and coupons decrease the price of items sold, as do price overrides due to incorrect prices in the POS or old sales signs being left on shelves.
SRAs can often be found by investigating point of sale (POS) data. Even when the error is found on the shelf in the form of a missed sales sticker when updating pricing, the evidence can be found in the POS data.
Exception-based reporting (EBR) is a form of statistical analysis focused on outlier data. By reviewing high-risk transactions (voids, no-sale till opens, price overrides, discounts, etc.), EBR can inform you about potential SRAs.
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Why are sales reducing activities important?
According to Larry Foster, Managing Consultant at The Store Consulting Group, LLC., most retail businesses today are not reviewing their SRAs in an aggregated way. This is concerning because SRAs are a great way to uncover theft.
Setting up a dashboard that shows the number of potential SRAs by employee can help you narrow down your loss prevention activities to the employees who might be stealing. Then, paired security camera footage and transaction data can help you confirm whether those transactions are legitimate or SRAs.
