What Did Belk, Big Lots, and REI's AP Leaders Say About Total Retail Loss Buy-In?

By awareretailgroup.com Editorial· Edited by Tom Walsh· Published 2026-10-01

Belk’s asset protection VP named executive sponsors in IT and Finance as critical to adopting total retail loss. At Big Lots, interest came paired with a condition: keep your eye on shrink and do not take on too much. REI’s Seth Hughes named a different reluctance: sharing a loss number that is higher than you want it to be. Only the Belk quote names what actually helped; the Big Lots and REI quotes describe obstacles the excerpts never show the companies resolving.

About the panel: LP Magazine produced and released the episode on 2021-03-18, and speakers are identified by the titles they held then. Hughes has since moved to Axon, a technology vendor, as vice president of retail strategy and innovation (LP Magazine), so only his 2021 REI remarks appear here. Big Lots later filed for bankruptcy and now operates under Variety Wholesalers (Retail Dive).

What Total Retail Loss Actually Counts

Total retail loss expands the shrink conversation past theft, a distinction covered in full on the shrink and total retail loss topic hub. Measured as shrink alone, NRF reported an average rate of 1.6% of sales in FY 2022, or $112.1 billion in losses (NRF). The episode description frames the problem plainly: “Relying upon this single measure of loss to guide strategy is increasingly anachronistic” (LP Magazine Podcast). The TRL 2.0 typology expands that picture to forty-two categories of loss, eleven of them specific to e-commerce (LP Magazine). A program that reports shrink alone is asking other functions to join a conversation about one slice of what the typology counts.

How Widely Has TRL Actually Spread?

Among TRL 2.0 respondents, awareness was high. Eighty-nine percent said they were aware of the concept (ECR Retail Loss). Adoption did not match that awareness level. Just over half, 53%, had either fully embraced the concept or adopted some of its elements (ECR Retail Loss). Inside that figure, only 10% called their adoption full, while 43% said they had taken on board some elements (ECR Retail Loss). For a director, partial adoption is the realistic plan.

Why AP Leaders Struggle to Get Buy-In

Persuading other departments to engage with loss has a specific history working against it. RILA’s introduction to Total Retail Loss notes that shrinkage’s historical association with crime-related problems discourages other functions from getting involved (ECR Retail Loss). The same research argues that any genuine impact on retail losses requires spreading responsibility to a broader range of business units, such as Store Operations, Supply Chain, IT, and Store Management (ECR Retail Loss). Where the shrink number has sat with Asset Protection alone, asking other functions to share ownership of a figure that could reflect on their own budgets asks them to accept real exposure. An executive sponsor has to name which loss categories each function will co-own and how the shared figure will show up in planning.

Recruit Finance Before You Build the Deck

Pamela Velose joined Belk as vice president of asset protection and safety in April 2018, responsible for AP and safety across stores, the corporate office, DCs, and fulfillment centers (LP Magazine). Her account names two specific functions:

“What I found critical with driving it, talking to partners about it was really to get some executive sponsors, that believed in what you’re doing… I found it to be really important, especially to have somebody in IT, and in finance.” Pamela Velose, then-Vice President of Asset Protection and Safety, Belk, on LP Magazine Podcast Ep. 46

Those two executive sponsors line up with the top barrier in TRL 2.0’s own survey. Data spread across the business was the top reported barrier, cited by 44% of respondents, followed by lacking the necessary data at 23% and organizational structure problems at 14% (ECR Retail Loss). IT can reach scattered data, and Finance can put a value on it, so recruit both early. One interviewee in the same research called reporting to the CFO critical to delivering TRL (ECR Retail Loss), and several respondents argued Finance is best placed to coordinate the whole effort (ECR Retail Loss). Start with Finance, then IT.

Skepticism and Exposure: The Other Two Quotes

Rob LaCommare, then vice president of asset protection and safety at Big Lots, was responsible for asset protection, safety, business continuity, crisis response, and e-commerce fraud prevention (LP Magazine). He described how the idea was received:

“There was a lot of interest in it, but there was still a bit of skepticism because, well, we want you to keep your eye on shrink… We don’t want you to take on too much.” Rob LaCommare, CFI, then-Vice President of Asset Protection and Safety, Big Lots, on LP Magazine Podcast Ep. 46

Answer that scope concern directly: pilot one category outside theft while shrink reporting continues unchanged, so AP visibly keeps its eye on shrink.

Seth Hughes, then divisional vice president of asset protection and risk management at REI, named a different reluctance: sharing a number that is higher than you want it to be.

“The number is, it’s psychology as well too… if you have a number that’s higher than what you want it to be, psychologically, are you willing to share that with other folks when you know it’s an opportunity? Probably not, right, if we’re being honest with ourselves.” Seth Hughes, then-Divisional Vice President of Asset Protection and Risk Management, REI, on LP Magazine Podcast Ep. 46

Separately from the panel, TRL 2.0 warns whoever drives the agenda to prepare for organizational antagonism, because TRL cuts across so many responsibilities that other functions can read it as a land grab (ECR Retail Loss). On exposure, one interviewee admitted some LP peers fear the accountability that comes with adopting the approach, calling it risky because you will be held accountable (ECR Retail Loss). Two-thirds of respondents, 66%, said Asset Protection or Loss Prevention had taken responsibility for driving TRL adoption, while only 9% named Store Operations and just 3% named a risk function or a dedicated TRL group (ECR Retail Loss). AP still owns the rollout in most of those cases, so the land-grab reading and the accountability risk land on the same desk.

Get the C-Suite Sponsor, Then Know When to Wait

An AP director cannot carry a Total Retail Loss rollout without senior management support behind the timeline. TRL 2.0’s research is direct: senior management support is key to a successful TRL-based strategy, because it generates urgency, facilitates financial support, and ensures compliance (ECR Retail Loss). Use the Finance and IT executive sponsors to bring the case to senior management. An executive sponsor can open the meeting. The calendar still depends on resistance and competing priorities. The same research says that where organizational resistance runs too strong and other priorities dominate, delaying adoption may be the right approach (ECR Retail Loss). That guidance matches how the framework itself is described: theoretically appealing, and disruptive enough to potentially require a retailer to rethink how it organizes and prioritizes its own work (LP Magazine). A director pushing TRL into a year already crowded with a system migration or a store remodel is picking a fight the framework does not need to have this year.

A Rollout Sequence for AP Directors

Follow these phases in order, and keep the full typology off any one function’s desk until Finance, IT, and senior management are all behind it.

What to do this week

• Identify one Finance and one IT contact who already touch loss-adjacent data, and set up a 30-minute working session to find who can serve as your executive sponsor, before pitching TRL company-wide.
• Ask your CFO’s office who currently owns markdown, damage, and fraud chargeback reporting, and map those against your existing shrink categories.
• Draft a one-page case for an executive sponsor that names the urgency, the funding ask, and the cost of doing nothing.
• Pick one loss category outside theft, such as damage or refund fraud, to pilot before proposing the full typology at once.
• Before the pitch, list the other initiatives competing for Finance and IT time this year; if they dominate, set a date to revisit instead of launching now.