The Argus blog
Field notes on the operating system for retail: the closed loop, the five agents, and what changes when every camera and register in the store shares one real-time data layer.
A week in the life of a store running on Argus
What does an operating system for retail actually feel like day to day? A narrative week in one convenience store running on the closed loop.
ReadNews & Trends
Loss Prevention
Gas station drive offs and pump skimmers: the loss outside your doors
The theft that happens outside the doors: gas drive offs and pump skimmers, and what a store catches when the loop watches the forecourt, not just the register.
ReadRefund fraud: the refund with no customer and no merchandise coming back
A refund moves cash out of the drawer. A refund report cannot tell a real return from a fake one. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
ReadHigh theft categories: why the beer cave and tobacco wall drive most of your shrink
The beer cave, the tobacco wall, and the energy drink cooler drive most of a store's shrink. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
ReadReal time theft prevention: catching register sweethearting cameras miss
Sweethearting hides in normal looking transactions. The camera sees the scan, not the intent. Argus crosses the register with the floor to catch theft as it happens.
ReadSelf checkout shrink: what the kiosk cannot see and the camera can
Retailers are scaling back self checkout as theft climbs. A kiosk records the scan, not the basket. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
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Operations
How multi store operators watch loss with one number per store
Two hundred stores, two hundred dashboards, and ninety minutes. What has to be true before a single score per location is worth acting on.
ReadWhy underage sales still happen when the register asks for age
An age prompt at the register is a button, not proof. Indiana's data shows the whole risk sits in one thing: whether the clerk actually asked for the ID.
ReadThe daily loss prevention review that takes minutes, not hours
Exception reports flag more than any manager can chase. What a useful daily loss review looks like when every flag arrives ranked, attributed, and with the clip attached.
ReadInventory you can trust: from shelf gaps to reorder, automatically
A count is only useful if you believe it. The Inventory agent watches every shelf in real time and reconciles what moved against what sold, then drafts the reorder.
ReadVendor and receiving shrink: the shortage that arrives at the back door
Short deliveries, direct store delivery discrepancies, and receiving fraud: what the invoice claims arrived is not always what came off the truck.
ReadReduce retail shrinkage with the Revenue Integrity Score
Retail metrics count what was rung up. To cut shrinkage you need what was actually paid for. The Revenue Integrity Score measures it per store, every day.
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Architecture
Why the annual stocktake finds shrink too late
Most stores learn what they lost months after it left. The case for measuring revenue integrity every day instead of once a year at count time.
ReadDisconnected retail systems: connect POS, cameras, and labor into one loop
Your POS, cameras, and labor data never talk, and that gap is where loss hides. Argus connects the disconnected systems into one real time loop where the facts live.
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