Proposal Report: Shrinkage Impact and Solutions for Walmart

This proposal report examines the issue of retail shrinkage within Walmart Canada, focusing on its financial consequences and potential solutions. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing shrinkage rate and its adverse impact on the company's financial health, as supported by expert opinions. It then outlines the scope of the research, which centers on the financial impact of shrinkage and effective resolution strategies, including employee training and the implementation of automated retail cash management systems. The report also details a comprehensive work plan, including timelines for literature review, data collection, analysis, and report completion. The conclusion summarizes the proposal, emphasizing the critical relationship between shrinkage and financial loss, and highlights the proposed solutions for mitigating this issue. The appendix provides a detailed task schedule for the research project.

Running Head: SHRINKAGE IN WALMART
SHRINKAGE IN WALMART
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Body.................................................................................................................................................3
Scope of research.........................................................................................................................3
Solutions......................................................................................................................................3
Work plan........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Summary..........................................................................................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Walmart Inc. has a bright business future in Canada. However, the company is suffering
from the shrinkage in retail. In this regard, the purpose of this proposal is to figure out the
financial impact of shrinkage in retail on the business orientation in Walmart Inc., Canada. As
per the report it can be seen that the shrinkage rate has been increased at a rapid pace from 1.38%
to 1.44 % in 2016 (S2.q4cdn.com., 2018). Moreover, retail security expert Stephen O'Keefe who
was also serviced 15 years in Walmart Canada advised putting more concern for the retail
organisations because it had an adverse impact on the financial condition of the retail company
(Toneguzzi, 2018). In response to this, as the Chief Finance Manager, it is the duty to notify the
organisation about the vitality and provide a solution for this.
In this context, the problem questions are as follows,
 Is there any relationship between the shrinkage in retail and the financial situation of a
retail company?
 How far the shrinkage in retail poses a financial threat to the business expansion of
Walmart Inc.?
 By which means Walmart Inc. can resolve the threat of shrinkage in retail?
Based on those research questions, it can be asserted that the research requires an in-depth
analysis of the impact of shrinkage in retail through the secondary sources. Simultaneously, it
is also essential to identify fluctuation in business for Walmart Inc. in Canada and assess the
process through which the shrinkage puts a great deal of threat to the progress of that retail
giant.

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Body
Scope of research
The research mainly puts emphasis on the financial impact of the shrinkage in retail and the way
a retail company can resolve this issue. In response to this, this research puts emphasis on
Walmart Inc. located in Canada and figure out the backlashes the company can provide in order
to resolve the issue. Moreover, it can be argued that the purpose of this research is not to retrain
itself into Walmart Inc. but get into the fathom of this problem. It is relevant in the present days
to keep harnessing the security of the retail store adequately not for the theft done by the
customers but in many cases, the employees are also involved in this. As a result of that, there a
huge financial issue emerges from these malpractices. From that point of view, it can be stated
that the research will come up with several scopes like the security of the retail outlets, the
insights of the financial losses that the retail companies are suffering with and the possible
measures to curb down those harmful practices. However, there are some limitations that this
research will also face because of putting the entire focus on financial losses. In fact, there are
other possible outcomes due to the continuous practice of shrinkage in retail. Moreover,
overstressing on the security matters obscures the other possible solutions like maintaining a
theft free environment in the stores or restructuring the store layout.
Solutions
According to Beck (2018), the employee training and induction process are highly
effective in order to keep them acknowledged with the company objectives and interests. In this
case, training the employees to keep intact security and eyes on the theft related issues are
considered to be highly beneficial (Knego & Mišević, 2016). As the purpose of this research is to

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provide a solution for both internal and external theft, therefore, the employee training program
will be able to secure the external threat only. On the other hand, to prevent any internal threat,
an Automating Retail Cash Management System can be implemented that can trace the stolen
cash (Fan et al., 2014). In this respect, the training of the employees costs $280 per employees in
a day. Therefore, it is important for the organisation to figure out the financial status and with
this estimated a timeline that will cope with the budget. Moreover, the implementation of a new
system will cost heavily. A rough calculation of the outlets can state that each outlet requires a
minimum three retail cash management system. In this context, the market value of each system
is $5000 excluding the installation charges. An installation charge is also figured out at a rate of
$300 per system.
Work plan
As far as the work plan is concerned about this proposal, at first, it is important to set a topic and
find out the literature on that topic. It will take 1 to 3 weeks maximum. After that, the research
will identify a specific method for creating authentic research. The third week of the literature
review is chosen for this. After choosing the method, it is important to collect data from primary
and secondary sources. The secondary data can be collected from the literature and for the
primary data collection it will take maximum 2 weeks. Then, the evaluation process of the data
will be initiated that takes not more than 2 weeks. It was followed by the conclusion and
recommendation part. Finally, after the completion of the research, the draft of the research will
be submitted in the 8th week and in the 9th week, the final submission will be done.

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Conclusion
This proposal is just the outline of the research that highlights the key facts of correlation
between the shrinkage in retail and the financial losses incurred due to it. Moreover, the research
also encompasses possible solutions that will be benefitted Walmart Inc. to handle this issue
proactively. Moreover, the scopes and limitations of this research are also taken into
consideration. From that point of view, it can be concluded that the proposal is rightly portrayed
a brief but in-depth outline of the research.
Summary
Shrinkage in retail is a serious threat for the organisations to retain their business without
financial loss. As a matter of fact, it is the responsibility of both the security and the operation
management to resolve such issue. In this context, this proposal is going to discuss shrinkage in
Walmart Canada. The purpose of this report is to figure out the relationship between the
shrinkage in retail stores and its impact on the financial condition. As per the annual report of
Walmart, it can be stated that the company is suffering from financial losses and the experts have
found out that the shrinkage in retail is considered to be an important factor for it. Based on this
understanding, this research has pointed out the scopes of this research. In fact, the proposal also
encompasses prescribed solutions for this threat in terms of internal and external factors. As far
as the external factors are concerned, it can be asserted that employee training is beneficial in
order to prevent theft by the customers. On the other hand, in the internal context, theft by the
employees are also constrained by installing a retail cash management system. As a result of that,
the report rightly indicates different aspects of resolving the shrinkage in retail.

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Reference
Beck, A. (2018). Moving beyond shrinkage: developing a definition and typology of total retail
loss. Security Journal, 31(1), 93-110.
Fan, T. J., Chang, X. Y., Gu, C. H., Yi, J. J., & Deng, S. (2014). Benefits of RFID technology for
reducing inventory shrinkage. International Journal of Production Economics, 147, 659-665.
Knego, N., &Mišević, P. (2016). Shrinkage in the Retail Trade in Some European Countries and
The Republic of Croatia. Trade Perspectives 2016 Safety, security, privacy and loyalty
PerspektiveTrgovine 2016. Sigurnost, privatnostilojalnost, 52.
S2.q4cdn.com. (2018). Walmart- Annual report 2018. Retrieved from
https://s2.q4cdn.com/056532643/files/doc_financials/2018/annual/WMT-2018_Annual-
Report.pdf
Toneguzzi, M. (2018). Theft Hits Bottom Line of Canadian Retailers. Retrieved from
https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2018/5/theft-hits-bottom-line-of-canadian-
retailers

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Appendix
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Research plan 37 days Tue 11/20/18 Wed 1/9/19
Topic selection 6 days Tue 11/20/18 Tue 11/27/18
Identify suitable topics for research 2 days Tue 11/20/18 Wed 11/21/18
confirm with lecturer 2 days Thu 11/22/18 Fri 11/23/18
finalizing topic 2 days Mon 11/26/18 Tue 11/27/18
Milestone 1: topic selected 0 days Tue 11/27/18 Tue 11/27/18
Secondary data collection 12 days Wed 11/28/18 Thu 12/13/18
Search for web articles and peer
reviewed journals
7 days Wed 11/28/18 Thu 12/6/18
Selection of significant sources 3 days Fri 12/7/18 Tue 12/11/18
Designing the research layout 2 days Wed 12/12/18 Thu 12/13/18
Milestone 2: Secondary data
collected
0 days Thu 12/13/18 Thu 12/13/18
Literature review 12 days Fri 12/14/18 Mon 12/31/18
Critical evaluation of collected data 7 days Fri 12/14/18 Mon 12/24/18

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annotated bibliography 3 days Tue 12/25/18 Thu 12/27/18
Literature review formation 2 days Fri 12/28/18 Mon 12/31/18
Milestone 3: Literature review
completed
0 days Mon 12/31/18 Mon 12/31/18
Research methodology and
Analysis
7 days Tue 1/1/19 Wed 1/9/19
Identification of research techniques 5 days Tue 1/1/19 Mon 1/7/19
validity and reliability study 2 days Tue 1/8/19 Wed 1/9/19
Milestone 4: Research methods
selected
0 days Tue 11/20/18 Tue 11/20/18
Data collection from primary
sources
17 days Tue 11/20/18 Wed 12/12/18
Gather raw data 7 days Tue 11/20/18 Wed 11/28/18
Sampling 2 days Thu 11/29/18 Fri 11/30/18
Data analysis using SPSS 8 days Mon 12/3/18 Wed 12/12/18
Milestone 5: primary data analysed 0 days Wed 12/12/18 Wed 12/12/18
Conclusion of the Study 20 days Thu 12/13/18 Wed 1/9/19

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rough draft formation 10 days Thu 12/13/18 Wed 12/26/18
Discuss with professor 3 days Thu 12/27/18 Mon 12/31/18
make amendments and submit 7 days Tue 1/1/19 Wed 1/9/19
Milestone 5: Project concluded 0 days Wed 1/9/19 Wed 1/9/19
Figure 1: Work plan
(Created by the author)