In the old days of loss prevention before there was any type of clothing security attempts to limit loss fell to working the floor as undercover store detectives and remedial mirrors hung awkwardly from ceilings. The saying goes you can’t be in two places at the same time, a saying that was and is obviously studied by shoplifters. As time moved on however loss prevention professionals wanted a “better mouse trap” and longed for a technology that would help lower their shrink percentages. Some retailers limited the amount of expensive product on the sales floor, requiring constant recovery by employees, additional payroll and rigid auditing to ensure all product was represented on the sales floor. Let’s be honest, no matter how good your store staff can be, no one is perfect and this strategy is recipe for doomed sales. Good sales obviously affect the shrink percentage in a positive way, so if your shrink is rising and your sales have been limited then you are “burning the candle at both ends”. A company called Checkpoint made substantial clothing security innovations. They heard the call of the industry for a clothing alarm system, They devised a system that covered the whole store by placing security tags on clothes and placing sensor pedestals at the entrance/egress of the store. At this point you had the store covered and anyone attempting to leave the store with product that had clothing security tags would trigger the clothing alarm at the front of the store.
This was an excellent beginning to the world of clothing security, however, there were pitfalls if too much confidence was placed in the clothing alarm. When a checkpoint system was purchased you didn’t just buy checkpoint tags or checkpoint pedestals you purchased an interactive system that required very specific set up instructions. Installation of the system was merely the first step. The entire store staff including management needed to take part in a product orientation that instructed them on what clothing security tags were, how to place security tags on clothes and how to remove the checkpoint tags safely. Employees also had to learn how to audit the clothing security tags, were the checkpoint tags placed on the correct product, were the checkpoint tags placed correctly on the product so as not to damage the clothing? If the security tags on clothes were not placed consistently or in the right places the system would fail to deter or detect theft.
The last bit of training for all the employees is how to correctly react to a clothing alarm from the front checkpoint pedestals. If alarms are ignored then the system is a waste of money. Employees have to react to an alarm in a non-threatening way that promotes customer service but also lets a potential thief know that if they did not pay for product and attempted to leave with concealed product they would be caught in the act. Most alarms at the beginning will merely be employees forgetting to deactivate or remove security tags on clothes. This will serve as good practice for all employees to get comfortable with a confident customer service friendly response to a clothing alarm. The checkpoint system is an excellent tool that is literally a blanket of protection for your store if the employees all work together to implement and maintain the system to its fullest degree.
Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.
For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547
