How Are You Preventing Shoplifting?

There is always so much debate about how to fight shoplifting in the retail industry.  There are loss prevention teams in all the major retail stores, and the management team at any other store is, if not trained at least aware of what to do when facing a shoplifting accident.  Millions of dollars are lost due to shoplifting, and the matter seems to get bigger every day.  New government policies are making sure shoplifting is punishable accordingly, and retail stores are spending millions of dollars in security and personnel to fight this crime, but why is that not enough?  Follow the links to read more about this and other stories. 

Shoplifting & Loss Prevention: Do We Need A Fresh Look?

Traditional Loss Prevention is not working. If it was working, the retail world would not still be suffering $35 million or more a day in losses. If it was working, retail owners and store directors would not be going through security and loss prevention officers or the security companies they represent like the free samples they often hand out to customers. Security experts and loss prevention companies would not be constantly scrambling for new accounts, or be in conflict with the accounts they service.

Shoplifting is one of the least detected and most unreported crimes. Stock control in many stores is so deficient that few retailers know how many goods they are losing to shoplifters or their own staff. Statistically, so long as shrinkage does not exceed 2-3% of goods sold, retailers pay little attention to shoplifting. There are also financial incentives for managers to increase the bottom line profits. The bonuses they receive are often based on profit margins, and paying for security services can be a drag on profits. Managers are under constant pressure to justify expenses in a corporate world driven by profit.

Shoplifting Prevention: Top 5 Tips

Shoplifting is of major concern to vendors, so much so that it’s considered normal to budget 10-15% in losses due to store theft. This means each honest customer is paying 10-15% more due to the sins of his fellow shoppers. This budget figure can be reduced by one of your company’s most important assets: Your employees. Real, live, people. While we recommend security cameras, computerized security tagging, door security guards, and even undercover security personnel, this article will address how your employees – often the most involved people with your customers – can also be involved in shoplifting prevention. Here is a Top 5 list of suspicious behavior often exhibited by shoplifters, all of which are easily spotted by employees.

1. Baggy or oversized clothing. There’s reason it’s called “baggy” – shoplifters are using their clothes as veritable bags, stuffing their stolen ware on their person as if it’s part of their wardrobe.
2. Hands in pockets, or hidden otherwise. A regular shopper has nothing to hide. In contrast, a shoplifter has everything to hide.
3. Teaming Up. Shoplifters might hang together when planning or passing along stolen items. If you see two or more people in a group speaking in low tones, looking over their shoulders, diverting their eyes, or of course, stuffing their or others’ pockets, it’s a sound suspicion of illicit activity. Regular shoppers, on the other hand, will likely happily chat away at full volume, and keep their non-purchased items in full view.

Japanese organization considers shared biometric database to combat shoplifting     

The National Shoplifting Prevention Organization (NSPO), a nonprofit organization of major Japanese retail businesses, is considering developing a biometric database to share facial recognition data in order to combat shoplifting across Japan, according to a report by The Japan News.

The NSPO said it would consider allowing retail stores to share the facial data with other stores in the same industry or other establishments in the region.

The organization proposes to set up a shared biometric database, and store managers can enter the facial data of shoplifting suspects into said database to continually monitor the suspects as he or she visits other stores.

Many retail stores have been using biometric technology in the past five years, however, the majority establishments that use facial recognition do so without publicly notifying any of their customers.