London, UK — The Retail Trust has teamed up with SAI, the leading active intelligence solution for stores, which has become an official partner of the charity as part of SAI’s work to support retail workers’ safety and wellbeing.
The move underscores SAI’s ongoing commitment to creating safer store environments for colleagues and customers through innovation, education and cultural change.
Already working with major grocers, including the Big Four, Iceland and Our Coop, as well as leading fashion brands, SAI’s solution unifies Loss Prevention (LP) and insight-led store operations. Using its patented Visual Language Model (VLM), the SAI One platform blends computer vision with GenAI to turn traditionally ‘passive’ store surveillance systems into an active, operational platform for real-time store intelligence.
As part of its work with leading brands on LP, SAI helps retailers reduce in-store violence, colleague abuse and shrink via its facial recognition technology (FRT) solution. Born out of its founding principle that stores should be safe, community spaces free from crime and violence, SAI redistributes earnings from its violence prevention and FRT systems, setting them aside as a charitable trust.
It then uses these funds to support causes and charities that champion store safety, spanning colleague protection and wellbeing, rehabilitation projects supporting those with addictions who turn to shoplifting, and wider work with the policing and justice communities.
“When we launched SAI, we knew we never wanted to profit from violence – we’d rather there was no need for this technology at all,” Helen Wilde, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer at SAI, explained. “But with more and more retailers coming to us and needing our solution to tackle the problem, we decided to ensure revenues generated from this part of the business were used to do good and give back.”
In addition to supporting the charity, SAI will develop new ways to use intelligence help tackle repeat offenders. With the top 10% of repeat retail offenders estimated to be responsible for between 68 – 70% of total in-store retail crime, its efforts will help reduce retail loss while making stores safer spaces for colleagues and communities.
Chris Brook-Carter, Chief Executive of the Retail Trust, said: “We are grateful for SAI’s support as we explore new ways of protecting retail workers against abuse, violence and theft and the impact this can have on their wellbeing. Our partnership will build on the help the Retail Trust is already providing to hundreds of retailers and people working across the industry to create happier and safer retail workplaces.”
“We’ve long admired the work the Retail Trust does – both through the practical support it delivers to retail workers and by championing colleague wellbeing through awareness campaigns,” Helen added. “This made partnering with them a natural step as we further our commitment to creating safer retail environments that support colleagues, customers and communities.”
The partnership with the Retail Trust comes as SAI prepares to launch its new Safer Stores initiative, which brings together diverse stakeholders – from major retailers to crime and justice bodies, rehabilitation groups and technology providers – in a shared mission to improve the safety of bricks-and-mortar environments. Meanwhile, hundreds of businesses will back the Retail Trust’s Let’s Respect Retail campaign this Christmas by increasing employee support and calling for more respect from shoppers.