Shoplifting Prevention

January 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

shoplifting4 The holidays are over and looking at your sales, revenue, expenses, profits and inventory, you are probably realizing you had a good year, or a year where inventory has disappeared and don’t know where it went. If the strategy to prevent shrinkage in your store hasn’t workout, have you looked into the reason why? Is employee theft a problem you have overlooked? Looking at your data carefully, you can analyze and probably pin point a few problem areas that are not being addressed, and then you can probably find a solution to the problem or at the least address the problem before it gets out of hand.

For more about this topic follow these links below.

Are Retailers Selling Shoplifting Tools?

Boosters are savvy in their methodology of offending. They often find creative ways in which to conceal property when shoplifting—in their clothing, via a special “booster bag,” etc. However, occasionally they capitalize on resources provided by the very location they intend to victimize.

While shopping in a nationally known chain drug store, I found an inexpensive, insulated six-can cooler bag, which appeared to have an aluminum lining, sitting on an aisle shelf out of view of the customer service area. When I saw this, I found it to be an aluminum-lined potential booster bag, the use of which is a felony in many states. This sparked my interest; is it possible that retail locations unknowingly stock booster supplies?

I purchased the cooler bag and went to one of my corporate retail colleagues to test the bag with two different types of electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags; the classic hard tags and UPC-style sticker tags. After a series of tests, I noted the following results:

• Effective in disrupting the UPC-style EAS stickers. I would have to hold the bag flush against the tower for the alarm system to activate.

Police holiday operations see some success

INCREASED PATROLS, SPECIAL DETAILS CURB CRIME

Local police efforts to deter holiday crime saw some positive results.

The Lemoore Police Department conducted a number of special details to prevent holiday crimes and educate citizens to defend themselves.

Cmdr. Maggie Ochoa said police set up informational booths where officers and civilian staff answered questions from citizens and distributed educational handouts about drugs and gangs.

Officers also conducted 39 random checks on registered sex offenders in the Lemoore city limits.

Eight of those offenders were found to be out of compliance or in violation of their registration requirements.

Ochoa said plain-clothed police officers also patrolled areas where there had been reports of thefts, suspected drug use and gang activity.

Common shoplifting techniques

Hiding the Merchandise

Favorite Shoplifter Devices

A large open bag is a common shoplifter tool. It is placed at the thief’s feet, and objects are casually dropped into it. Be on the lookout for the “bad bag” — a paper bag that is dirty and wrinkled. Also keep an eye out for shopping bags that are not from local stores. Preventing this is why many stores staple bags shut. Other stores require customers to leave their bags by the front door when they come in.

Women sometimes use purses to hide stolen items. There is little you can do to stop women from carrying purses and handbags. The best prevention in these cases is to watch the customers very carefully.

The baby carriage or stroller is a great tool for shoplifters. There are always blankets, toys, and other things in strollers (including the baby) that merchandise can be hidden under. Some thieves have even built false bottoms in baby carriages.

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Merchandise Return Fraud

December 30, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shoplifting during the holidays is a big problem for retailers in the United States. The holiday season brings more customers into their stores, but shoplifters know this and they take advantage of this fact to go into the stores and walk out with hundreds of dollars in stolen merchandise. But after the holidays, you are dealing with another kind of fraud. Merchandise return fraud has seen an increase over the previous year, and retailers now have to deal with this problem after the holidays are over.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Post-Holiday Merchandise Return Fraud

Retail theft statistics show that the vast majority of returns are legitimate and part of doing business as a retailer.

Returns and return fraud are a big issue—and getting bigger. In 2014, $284 billion worth of retail merchandise was returned in the United States,according to the Retail Equation. That represented a 6.2% increase over the prior year, and 2015’s numbers are expected to grow even higher. Brick-and-mortar stores report returns in the 5-10 percent range. E-commerce retailers report numbers averaging 10-15 percent, with returns of apparel running as high as 20-30 percent. The research firm IHL Group estimates that, overall, returns cost retailers 4.4 percent in revenue that is lost on items that can’t be resold or must be discarded.

Within the retail loss prevention community, when returns are mentioned, most focus on return fraud. To be sure, it is a huge issue with volume estimated at $9.1 billion, again according to The Retail Equation. When return abuse is added in, that number jumps to an estimated $15.9 billion. But, as large as these numbers are, it is estimated that return fraud and abuse only make up about 6.1 percent of returns. So 94 percent of all return transactions (equating to $245 billion) are legitimate.

Retailers Estimate Holiday Return Fraud Will Cost Them $3.8 Billion, According to NRF Survey

WASHINGTON, December 19, 2014 – Techniques and processes put in place to thwart criminal activity around retailers’ return policies continue to be put to the test, and with steadily improving retail sales, even more is on the line when it comes to losses from return fraud.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2014 Return Fraud Survey* completed by loss prevention executives at 60 retail companies representing grocery, department, discount, specialty and small retailers, the industry will lose an estimated $10.9 billion to return fraud this year. Additionally, of those surveyed, retailers estimate $3.8 billion will be lost to return fraud this holiday season alone, up slightly from last year’s $3.4 billion. Overall, retailers polled estimate 5.5 percent of holiday returns are fraudulent, similar to last year’s 5.8 percent.

“Today’s sophisticated technology does well keeping criminals at arm’s length but often isn’t enough to completely stop the unethical practices of organized and individual retail fraud occurrences,” said NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention Bob Moraca. “Return fraud has become an unfortunate trend in retail thanks to thieves taking advantage of retailers’ return policies to benefit from the cash or store credit they don’t deserve. Additionally, many of these return fraud instances are a direct result of larger, more experienced crime rings that continue to pose serious threats to retailers’ operations and their bottom lines.”

Reflects on How a Shoplifting Charge Changed Her Life

Shoplifting consequences that ended a 35-year career in journalism.

On February 11, 2012, officers of the Tucson Police Department cited former Tucson KVOA news anchor Martha Vazquez on a shoplifting charge. According to the report that was filed, Vazquez was cited for shoplifting at the Dillard’s in the Tucson Mall after a loss prevention officer observed her conceal an Eileen Fisher jacket value at $338.00. After she was detained, a search of her belongings also yielded a pair of Kenneth Cole sunglasses valued at $30 that had also been shoplifted.

Vazquez said that after the shoplifting charges ended her 35-year career in broadcast journalism, her life hit “rock bottom.” She resigned her prominent position, sank into a deep depression and left Tucson for Washington State. Now, Vazquez says the time that she spent out of the public eye in Washington after her incident in 2012, was “a healing journey.” She is now back in Tucson; is being treated for depression and says that she wants to help others.

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Shoplifting Prevention and Tips

December 22, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The security of your store during the holiday season is often tested to the limits by the quantity of customers and employees that enter your store daily. Preventing employee theft and shoplifting during this time of year is not something you expect to accomplish 100% of the time, but if you have preventive measures and procedures in place, you can minimize your loses and keep your employees and customers safe. If you need more tips or information about this topic, follow the links below to read more.

Business Owner’s Rights for Shoplifters

Shoplifting is a major expense for many businesses. A retailer suffers a loss from the unpaid merchandise, and it has the added expense of surveillance equipment and personnel. Each state enacts its own shoplifting laws that should be read by the prudent business owner. While an employee may be justifiably angry when he witnesses a crime in progress, he must follow the store policy or face the possibility of the thief suing him and the store for a violation of his civil rights.

Surveillance

Most consumers realize that the majority of stores have security cameras installed inside and outside the building. In addition, loss prevention specialists walk the aisles looking for suspicious activity and responding to alerts from the monitors. What people may not realize is that the insides of dressing rooms are under surveillance in at least one major department store. On July 21, 2011 Channel 10 News in Tampa Bay, Florida, reported that Macy’s flips the doors to dressing rooms so the slats face downward. This allows anyone — or any camera — outside the room to see in, although that’s not obvious to the customer inside the room trying on clothes.

SHOPLIFTERS STEAL AN AVERAGE OF $134 EACH TIME

November and December are peak months for shoplifting. Not really a surprise. Shoplifting increases 10 percent or more during the holidays, according to security companies.

Retailers are getting better at preventing shoplifting and recovering some of their merchandise, but the losses are still staggering. The average value of items stolen per case is $134.

Over $10 billion in merchandise is lost annually, according to University of Florida research of the nation’s largest retailers, and just $159 million in stolen merchandise was recovered in 2014. Another $82 million was recovered when the shoplifter got away.

Nearly 1.2 million shoplifters were caught in 2014, an increase in apprehensions of 7.4 percent over the previous year, according to the annual retail theft survey by Jack Hayes International, a loss prevention consulting firm. The survey included 25 large retailers with over $700 billion in sales and 23,250 stores.

10 Tips to Prevent Shoplifting

Shrinkage, or retail theft, can have a serious impact on your bottom line. The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention says more than $35 million worth of goods are stolen from retailers every day. And while all businesses are susceptible to shoplifting, some — like clothing, book and jewelry sellers — are more so.

While teaching your staff to spot and handle shoplifters properly is a crucial deterrent, you can also implement store design tactics to help prevent stealing. Here are 10 of the best ways your retail small business can deter shoplifters today:

Maximize Visibility: Keeping an eye on merchandise is the first step in loss prevention. Place shorter displays close to the register and taller displays near the perimeter of the store so all merchandise is completely visible from your perch. Use mirrors to eliminate any blind spots, and be sure to keep your store neat and tidy, so employees can tell at a glance if something is missing or out of place.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Employee Theft

December 16, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shoplifting costs the retail industry million of dollars daily. The harm done to the businesses and the economy in general is socially and economically harmful, but employee theft hurts the company’s culture, damages trust between owners and employees, and financially are responsible for billions of dollars that companies lose due to this horrible crime. For more about this topic follow the links below.

A New Employee Theft Study

An Analysis of Employee Theft at a Specialty Retailer.

When I was a doctoral graduate student at the University of Minnesota during the late 1970s, I began conducting research on employee theft. At the time this was an area of criminology that was virtually unexplored. I found that it was very hard to study this subject then, since few retailers were willing to let a social scientist have full access to the records on this subject. Over forty years later, the scholarly literature on dishonesty in the workplace is still understudied and poorly understood despite the best efforts of a handful of researchers.

As such, I am always on the lookout for new and cutting-edge research on this topic. This month I wish to share the results of a quality employee theft study that was recently published as a doctoral dissertation. The author is Dana N. Baxter. She completed her research while studying under Dr. Dennis Giever at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She finished her dissertation this past spring and graduated in May. She is presently an assistant professor at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia.

A Snapshot of Employee Theft in the US

The majority of employee thefts are occurring in organizations with 500 employees or less. The sizes and types of thefts vary by industry, but smaller organizations across the spectrum exhibited high incidences of embezzlement overall.

The unfortunate reality of employee theft is every organization is at risk.

When we looked at the totality of federal actions involving employee theft over the calendar year, nearly 72% involved organizations with fewer than 500 employees. Within that data set, we found that four of every five victim organizations had fewer than 100 employees; more than half had fewer than 25 employees. Is there a connection between the size of an organization and the size of the loss? Our research suggests that there may be. While some of the largest losses occurred in organizations with fewer than 50 employees, in the aggregate, we note the following:

U.S. retail workers are No. 1…in employee theft

Light-fingered employees cost American stores (and consumers) more than shoplifters do.

It’s almost Groundhog Day, but for retailers, the holiday season is finally winding down.

“The four months from October through January are when stores see not just their biggest sales volume of the year, but also the most returns and exchanges,” says Ernie Deyle, a 30-year veteran of the retail loss-prevention wars who leads the business consulting practice at London-based data analytics firm Sysrepublic. “Unfortunately, the same four months account for about half of all annual shrinkage.”

That shrinkage, made up of missing goods from shoplifting and other causes, costs U.S. retailers about $42 billion a year, according to the latest Global Retail Theft Barometer, an annual industry study led by Deyle and inventory management firm Checkpoint Systems.

Shoppers pay the price for such theft. The cost of mysteriously vanishing merchandise comes to $403 annually per U.S. household.

Of course, retailers everywhere deal with shrinkage, but there is one big difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world: Globally, dishonest employees are behind about 28% of inventory losses, while shoplifters account for a markedly higher 39%. Not so stateside, the study says, where employee theft accounts for 43% of lost revenue. That’s about $18 billion, or $2.3 billion more than the cost of five-finger discounts taken by customers.

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Preventing Shoplifting This Holiday Season

December 14, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

By now the holiday season has been in full force for a few weeks, and the stress your management team, employees and security personnel are feeling is a bit overwhelming. Shoplifters during the holiday season are abundant, and police and retailers try to be more vigilant and proactive by implementing security measures during this time than at any other time of the year. Follow the links below for more information about this and other topics.

Police step up efforts for holiday crime

As the holiday season gets under way, local police are gearing up for the all-too-predictable spike in property crime.

Hanford police Capt. Pat Crowe said officers will be stepping up their game over the next few weeks to deter vehicle burglaries, robberies and other crimes typical of this time of year.

“Every [patrol] shift was tasked with coming up with their own holiday project,” Crowe said.

Crowe said those projects include probation and parole sweeps focusing on individuals with known histories of gang activity, drug-related offenses and property crimes. Foot patrols and motorcycle units will also increase their presence at the Hanford Mall and other major shopping centers.

“Our main focus is to be visible and hopefully deter criminals from doing what they’re going to do,” Crowe said.

Lemoore Police Chief Darrell Smith said each of his department’s patrol shifts also devised a plan to tackle holiday crime. The result was a number of special operations that will unfold through New Year’s Eve.

Police offer tips to stay safe during holidays

If you’re tempted to share your holiday plans or photographs of Christmas loot on social media, local law enforcement officials want you to think twice.

“We live in an age where people put so much information out there about themselves,” said Cindy Kozerow, crime prevention specialist with the Lynchburg Police Department.

“Do not announce on Facebook, ‘Hey, we’re going to grandma’s for the holidays,’ because what that says is ‘Hey, my house is empty, so come and steal my stuff.’”

She explained how the holidays present a unique opportunity for thieves looking to capitalize on people’s good will and sense of safety in their own homes.

Checking in at stores on social media pages or opening window curtains at night to show off decorations lets potential thieves know when your home is empty, and gives them a glimpse of goods stashed under your Christmas tree.

‘Shoplifting Season’ for local businesses

Rogue River, Ore — The holiday shopping season can mean trouble for local businesses as big crowds come in but some say they’re sick and tired of getting ripped off. Sometimes it’s as simple as a Facebook post.

In Rogue River the police are working with one local business to make sure their products stay on the shelves and don’t fall into the hands of thieves.

“We’re a small store, and it really hurts us,” said Justin Norris.

At Rogue River Pharmacy and variety store shoplifting is something assistant manager Justin Norris has to deal with far too often.

“Lately we’ve had a problem with people from out of town coming in and shoplifting,” said Norris.

Rogue River police are looking to put an end to it by posting pictures online of suspected shoplifters and suspicious persons, one of whom confronted a uniformed police officer before leaving empty handed Tuesday.

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How to Find a Good Security Consultant

December 11, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In today’s business climate it’s impossible for an owner or manager to have all the knowledge and experience needed to run a successful company. There’s too much new and changing information (i.e., technology, taxes, healthcare, government regulations, legal liability) for any one person to keep up, let alone have a working understanding.

That’s why even very small businesses are using temporary specialists more often than ever before. Outside experts fill the many gaps which any business has: lawyer, marketer, accountant, consultant, business analyst or web designer. Increasingly, one of the requirements for many companies is security consulting.

The growing need for risk assessments and security measures is an area of concern most companies have never had to face. It’s an area which requires expertise beyond what the average manager or owner can be expected to have. It just makes sense to outsource it.

But, how do you find a good security consultant? As any good security consultant will tell you — due diligence is the key. To get you started here are a few tasks to do and questions to answer for each candidate.

* Interview more than 1 person, 3 is usually enough to find the right one.

* Do they welcome or hinder your due diligence? A viable candidate will endorse your actions.

* Check their references and credentials. Also, depending on the project you have in mind, consider doing a background check.

* Evaluate and validate their work experience. Do they have the expertise they claim to have? There are many types of security issues. Does their knowledge fit your problems?

* Are they listening to you and your people? Are they offering solutions before they understand the problems? Are they trying to up-sell you?

* Do they demonstrate responsibility by following up when they say they will (i.e., bids, phone calls, appointments, texts, emails)? If they’re not responsible when they’re trying to sell you, it usually gets worse during the project.

* Is there a contract? There should be one that’s clear and easy to understand.

Security issues — workplace violence, cyber attacks and breaches, employee theft, shoplifting — are continuing to grow. It’s time to think about how they affect your business and take steps to address them. These are concerns that aren’t going to go away.

Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 100 articles published. She’s a business consultant and former psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, business and addiction. She’s a coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator. She has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, seminars and college classes.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

What To Do With Your Customer Feedback

December 2, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For retailers around the country and business in general, customer satisfaction is very important nowadays. The internet has made customer complains known worldwide. An uploaded video can go viral without the company having control over it, and the damage it can inflict upon the company can be horrendous. What can you do to assure that you take customer complains or suggestions seriously? What can you do with them once you have the data? For more about this topic follow the links below.

5 Cool Things You Can Do With Customer Feedback

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Time was when getting feedback from a customer was a process so complex, it was akin to getting blood out of a stone. Thankfully, we don’t live in those times.

Today, not only is feedback nothing more than an email away, but customers actively come to you with suggestions and ideas. In fact, theylove sharing their insights with you because they understand that the more feedback they give, the better your product becomes.

However, most of this feedback just ends up cooling its heels in hard drives, which is, well, tragic, considering all the good it can do. A motivational tool, a wall of love. . . the ideas are limited only by your imagination. Here are our top five cool things that you can spin off with customer feedback, to wow your customers and your own employees.

Are Customer Reviews Promoting Your E-Business Like They Should?

Like it or not, customer reviews are a fact of life — and their impact on your business is huge. Columnist Jeremy Smith explains how you can use this to your advantage to promote your brand.

Unless you’re just back from an extended stay in some parallel universe, you know that customer reviews are valuable to e-commerce and increasing online conversions. Even negative reviews can be helpful to you, as the purveyor of a product or service.

The value of online customer reviews can hardly be overstated, though perhaps it approaches being over-documented.

4 Ways to Make Your Customer Satisfaction Surveys Actionable

To truly understand customer feedback, you need to ask an important question: “Why?” The only way to do that: follow up.

“Please tell us how we did.”

A question like that can roll the eyes of even your company’s biggest fan.

For years, customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys have been the bread-and-butter strategy for getting feedback.

But the big question is, are these surveys useful?

Many companies are frustrated by their surveys, in large part because they don’t know how to derive consistently actionable insights from the feedback they collect. Thousands of responses go into a database, emerging only as a graph that nobody wants to admit doesn’t drive any change.

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Using Technology To Prevent Shoplifting

December 1, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The busiest shopping season has begun. Along the many customers you expect this holiday season, you can expect the shoplifters as well. Taking advantage of the many customers entering a store, the shoplifter sees this season as an opportunity to walk into a store and leaving with hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise without paying, and sometimes without getting stopped by security. It is difficult for a loss prevention officer to keep track of all the customers entering and leaving the store, that’s why the technology you use to protect your store from shoplifters is as important as hiring loss prevention officers in the first place. To read more about this and other topics follow the links below.

Using facial recognition to prevent shoplifting, workplace violence

Some retail stores in Kirkwood, Missouri are using facial recognition software supplied by Blue Line Technology to prevent shoplifting, according to a report by Fox2Now.

“If we recognize them as a suspicious character, we follow them around and we sort of hound them out of the store,” said Christopher Thau, the owner of a store called Christopher’s. “I hate to put it that way but that’s what we do.”

Since shoplifters often move from one store to the next, many store owners and managers help each other by distributing pictures of potential suspects.

Blue Line Technology provides facial recognition software to help police and businesses track potential threats of shoplifting.

The First Line Facial Recognition system alerts store managers regarding the presence of known shoplifters, providing advance warning for protection against shoplifting and fraud in checks and credit cards.

Blenheim businesses prepare for the shoplifting season

The festive season boom sees a surge shoplifters, shopkeepers and police say.

Shopkeepers and police are preparing for an expected surge in shoplifting during the busy festive season.

Farmers Blenheim store manager Karen Stevenson said the months of November and December were the worst time of the year for theft in department stores.

“Christmas is a bad time for it … It’s a huge problem in Blenheim.”

Police had received 23 reports of shoplifting in Marlborough since August 20.

Blenheim community constable Russ Smith said an increase in shoplifting was expected ahead of the holidays.

“Part of the reason is that stores are advertising flat out and have more stock. They’re a lot busier, the store staff are busier, and shoplifters take advantage of those factors.”

Police would patrol the Blenheim shopping district closer to Christmas in an attempt to deter shoplifters.

“That’s only part of what we do preventatively, and it’s as much to make sure people are behaving in the late nights,” Smith said.

Postie Plus Blenheim ex-employee Barbara Drummond said the size of department stores made it extremely difficult to keep an eye on customers, especially during busy times like the festive season.

Firm that teaches ‘life skills’ to suspected shoplifters extorts them, suit alleges

Debra Black insists she is “not a thief.”

She says she rolled her electric wheelchair out of the Goodwill Industries store in Tustin after inadvertently neglecting to pay for a few items. The pack of purple napkins, headband and small purse came to $6.97.

But once a security guard stopped her that day in March 2013, things got heated. Black, 64, said she was frightened into signing a confession and agreeing to complete a six-hour “life skills” course and pay a Utah company $500.

When Black did not pay, she received multiple calls and letters from Corrective Education Co., including this final warning: “Contact us immediately to prevent the filing of a criminal complaint.”

Black unsuccessfully sued the firm, which refers to itself as CEC, along with Monument Security Inc., contending they were debt collectors that had violated laws governing that industry.

On Monday, the San Francisco city attorney weighed in, filing a new lawsuit that alleges CEC’s practices violate the California business and professions code and amount to extortion and false imprisonment.

The suit seeks civil penalties as well as restitution for every Californian who has paid into the program. About 20,000 accused shoplifters are believed to have participated nationwide.

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Should You Apprehend The Shoplifter?

November 24, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

According to the statistics by the National Association for Shoplifting prevention the habitual shoplifter steals 1.6 times a week. And although that is an alarming amount, the fact is that theft by employees surpasses theft by the outside shoplifter. The amount they steal is alarmingly higher compared to what the outside shoplifter takes from the store. So how do you prepare your business to mitigate the loses it will suffer from employees and shoplifters alike? Is having up to date inventory data readily available one of the solutions? Is prosecuting the employee no matter the amount the way to go? For more about this and other stories follow the links below.

To Stop Or Not to Stop the Shoplifter: Is This Still a Question?

A male shoplifting suspect has been coming into store 153 three times a week for as long as anybody can remember. Store management has even attributed this guy as a major cause of the store’s shrink woes that have put them on the corporation’s “target store” list for the last two inventory cycles. As the store’s loss prevention agent, you have tried to stop him in the past, but it seems like you have always been just one step behind him and unable to make the shoplifter apprehension.

“Today is going to be different,” you say to yourself.

You can feel it. Today he is finally going to get what’s coming to him, and, more importantly, your apprehension dry spell is going to end. No more excuses needed for the boss. Today you are going to be stopping the shoplifter that nobody else has been able to get.

You have spent the last ten minutes following the suspect through the store, tracking him carefully from the moment he entered. You know and understand the steps of the apprehension process. You have observed him approach, select, and conceal multiple computer accessories that you estimate to be worth over $200.

Seven things retail can teach us all about data security

TalkTalk’s Dido Harding isn’t the first CEO to receive advice from cyber experts safely installed on the This Morning sofa and she won’t be the last. The boardrooms of British Gas, Vodafone and Morrisons have all recently played data-breach bingo and we all now accept it’s ‘when’ not ‘if’.

But retailers have been dealing with theft for a very long time. They call it ‘shrinkage’ – when stock leaves a store by any non-legitimate route and surprisingly, shoplifting comes a distant second to theft by staff. Since retailers need staff they’ve had to concentrate on mitigation rather than eradication.

The information security community would do well to take heed here. The biggest tool most companies have against the insider threat – data theft by staff – is a strongly worded statement. Even then, access to information is so poor that management can’t deliver on any threats. Too much attention still goes on preventing the external attack – the shoplifter.

RETAIL SECURITY

Retail security is a term with two very different and distinct meanings in the retail environment. In one aspect, retail security is an outdated and understated term for a critical sales support function. In the early years of the profession, most companies called this aspect of the workforce the “Security” or “Protection” department. Security teams served as a real and visible force to combat losses in the stores. Uniformed guards would stand at the doors or walk the selling floors. Undercover security agents were eventually brought on to catch shoplifters. Security managers coordinated these efforts, and also handled internal theft issues. Programs typically assumed a reactive and one-dimensional approach; responding to issues as they occurred and working to keep the stores safe and secure. Unfortunately, while this reactionary approach was often expected and requested by retail leadership, it was not conducive to true retail success.

Over the years, responsibilities continued to increase, and these departments were looked at in a different way. It became increasingly apparent that in order to benefit the overall organization the industry would have to evolve, embracing the concepts of retail shrink reduction and incorporating concepts critical to the retail culture.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Periodic inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Shoplifting Prevention and Your Inventory

November 18, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Keeping track of your inventory this holiday season is not an easy task. The time and work that this task takes is not easy for many managers to keep up with, nor something they relished doing. But maintaining an accurate inventory is not only good to keep up with customers likes and dislikes, but to keep a closer eye if shoplifting is happening in your store.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Business Security: 10 Tips to Prevent Shoplifting

In 2010, shoplifting accounted for 31% of retail inventory loss, according to a University of Florida retail security survey. This loss cost retailers about $10.94 billion during that year, according to a Washington Post article about the survey.

Items most commonly stolen include clothing, books, music, jewelry, watches, tires and car parts. “Everyone thinks about little Johnny stealing a pack of bubble gum, but there are also professional gangs that target stores and steal billions of dollars every year,” says Joseph LaRocca, an adviser for the National Retail Federation, in the article.

While security cameras can help identify suspects after a theft occurs, there’s plenty a retailer can do to prevent shoplifting from happening in the first place, according to the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the Specialty Retail Report.

Greet customers as soon as they come into the store. Addressing customers removes their anonymity. Shoplifters are known to avoid stores with attentive salespeople

5 Quick and Low-Tech Tips To Prevent Shoplifting in Your Retail Store

As a small business retailer, it’s not always easy to just throw money at problems like shoplifting and take advantage of all the technology that big box retailers may be privy to. Whether it’s cameras, door scanners, or facial-recognition software, sometimes their big-ticket cost just doesn’t fit with your small business security budget.

But when you recognize facts like shoplifting costing retailers upwards of $13 billion each year, it’s important to identify it as a problem that needs to be dealt with.

So, what’s a boutique owner to do? In this post, I’ll be looking at cost-effective and low-tech tactics that you can start implementing right away.

Let’s dive in.

1. Keep Your Store Organized and Products Well-Placed

How easy should it be to identify whether something has gone “missing” from your store? Empty space on your shelves should be enough of a visual cue to signal something has gone wrong.

However, if your store is messy, disorganized, or a maze to get through, it can be harder to notice that you’ve been “gotten” until it’s too late.

Security expert and founder of Crime Doctor, Chris McGoey recommends the following: “You want to keep all your merchandise “faced,” which means pulling your products to the edge of the shelf to create a solid wall of product. If someone sweeps the shelf, then it is easy to tell.”

Impact of retail theft: Costs customers, hurts business fuels drug trade

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

Walmart is one of many stores that are frequently targeted by shoplifters.

By Zach Glenn
[email protected]

Posted Nov. 14, 2015 at 8:15 AM

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

“From the law enforcement side (retail theft) can take up a lot of resources when it comes to investigations which can be problematic when there are other emergencies coming in and other cases that need worked on,” said Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Robert Hicks. “From a societal point, we all know when businesses lose money from theft that their prices increase which impacts all of us as consumers.”

Police calls

Last year, Walmart reported that around 1 percent of its total profits had been lost to shoplifting — for a total of $3 billion. Greg Foran, head of U.S. Walmart operations, said in a statement earlier this year that without theft, prices could be lower.

Other stores targeted by shoplifters sell items that are easy to resell, such as scrap metal from home improvement stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot and movies, music and video games from electronics stores like Best Buy.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Periodic inventory, Perpetual Inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention