Appriss Retail Unveils Sidekick: First Agentic AI Layer Built To Work for Returns and Total Retail Loss

Built on 20-plus years of cross-retailer transaction data, Sidekick embeds directly into the loss prevention and returns management workflow, empowering teams to reduce loss faster

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Appriss Retail, the total loss platform for omnichannel retailers, today announced the release of Sidekick, a workflow intelligence layer for returns, shrink, and incidents, natively built into the Appriss Retail platform. Unlike generic conversational chatbots that surface information, Sidekick acts on it by surfacing anomalies and trends, opening investigations, assigning work items, tracking outcomes like returns prevented, and guiding users through plain-language conversations.

Built for Total Retail Loss

Sidekick is built on Appriss Retail’s data intelligence layer, consisting of 20-plus years of cross-retailer transaction data, 250 million unique customer IDs, and roughly 40% of all U.S. retail transactions. That data is the foundation for Appriss Retail’s 99.99% return decision accuracy and powers Sidekick’s ability to reason and make decisions specific to a retailer’s operations.

“Most loss-related work isn’t analysis; it’s figuring out what to do next: which search to run, which case to look at, which store to visit,” said Michael Osborne, CEO, Appriss Retail. “With Sidekick, investigators get answers in less than 5 minutes compared to 45 minutes of manual work. Sidekick gives district managers a full briefing on what to address before visiting a store, like return patterns, failed audits, open investigations, and what’s happening at each location.”

See Sidekick Act, Not Chat

Sidekick is embedded across Appriss Retail’s three core product lines: Engage (omnichannel returns and claims management), Secure (shrink and exception analytics), and Incident (case and audit management). Any analyst, from day-one hires to seasoned investigators, can prompt Sidekick in plain language to take action across a range of loss-related functions. The result is a shorter onboarding curve to adoption, faster case resolution, and significant gains in workflow efficiency.

Examples include:

• Surface cash transactions that occurred at one store over a period of time
• Activate a fraud investigation and assign cases to specialists
• Investigate how many returns have been declined over a period of time

Built To Be Trusted

Sidekick operates within each retailer's existing permissions and never acts outside a user's role-based access. Appriss Retail's AI governance program is led by its chief legal and compliance officer, who holds the IAPP AI Governance Professional (AIGP) certification.

Sidekick supports users and is built for their control. It is available now to Appriss Retail customers. Set up a meeting to learn how Sidekick can vastly improve your loss prevention workflows.

About Appriss Retail

Appriss Retail is the total retail loss platform for omnichannel retailers — unifying returns, shrink, and incident management in one connected platform. Our Data Intelligence layer is the most mature in the industry: 40% of all U.S. retail transactions, 250 million unique customer IDs, and 20+ years of transaction history across channels. That foundation delivers real-time approve, warn, and decline return decisions at 99.99% accuracy, automatically surfaces the operational risk that matters most, and embeds agentic AI directly into the workflow — balancing margin protection, customer experience, and operational efficiency. The result: retailers move from reactive loss control to strategic profit protection, putting hundreds of millions back to the bottom line. Trusted by 60+ of the top 100 U.S. retailers across 45 countries. Learn more at apprissretail.com.