After a long and contested election cycle, a new president will be inaugurated and with this result, some experts are predicting the economy will begin to improve significantly. If the rebound is as strong as these experts are predicting retailers will be one of the beneficiaries, with an increase in customers and sales. Likewise there may also be more shoplifting activity that takes place. An increase in sales would seem to make sense given that there would be more people with jobs and potentially more money in their pockets, but why would there be an increase in shoplifting? There are a couple of possible explanations, for example during those periods when the economy is slumping retailers tend to order less merchandise. The result is shelves may stay empty longer or there may be fewer high ticket goods available for criminals to steal. Less product displayed can translate to less opportunity and opportunity is one of the necessities for a theft to take place. There is also the chance that with fewer customers in a store, employees are more readily available to offer customer service to shoppers and this is certainly a deterrent to shoplifters. One of the first recommendations I always make for improved shortage results is for a store to focus on customer service.
Along with increased sales and the potential for more shoplifting, what are some other things you can anticipate with an improving economy? You may find you are in need of more employees to help in your store. Cash stands that may not have been very active could start to see new life as lines begin to increase. Customers don’t want to wait for service so it is important to have enough staff to meet the demand. Sales floor coverage will likely be stretched thin again impacting shopper perception of wait time. Hiring could be crucial and in an improved economy you could be fighting for talent. Don’t settle on a warm body, ensure you conduct pre-employment screenings so you can be confident that the person you hire is the right fit for your team and has no hidden skeletons in the closet.
An improving economy means more transactions and that means cash registers have more money in them and credit card swipes. Make sure credit cards are the only thing being swiped and then only during the 
customer transaction. More cash in a register is a tempting target to an employee who may be experiencing a personal financial crisis. Make sure your front end or cashier supervisors are doing random cash drops at the registers, taking most of the money and leaving enough in to continue ringing sales. Watch for cashiers who may be tempted to swipe a credit card and forget to hand it back to the customer. If you see credit cards lying beside a register, question where it came from and pick it up and retain it in a lost and found.
Anticipate the need to replenish shelves more quickly. During slow economic times merchandise doesn’t always sell quickly and so filling empty spaces on shelves and fixtures may have been able to wait until the next truck load of freight arrived. If sales improve as predicted it is important to have plans in place to address “holes” more quickly. Prepare to monitor for out of stocks during the day and get it refilled from your stockroom quickly. If you are selling a lot of vendor supplied product, such as soft drinks, bread, cereals and snacks, etc., partner with your vendor representatives to increase deliveries and representative visits.
If you require an increase in floor replenishment, don’t forget to protect product with retail anti-theft devices before it gets to the selling floor. Remember I mentioned there could be increased shoplifting with an improving economy. It is easy to overlook the protection of merchandise as it flows from the stockroom. I should note that I would prefer to see merchandise protected as it arrives to the store, but some stores do wait until it gets sent to the sales-floor before applying Checkpoint tags and labels.
The potential for growth in sales is exciting for retailers. Don’t miss the boat by not being prepared for it. Have a plan to meet the needs of an expanding customer base. Be ready to fill your sales-floor and don’t forget to prevent shoplifting by protecting your merchandise before it gets to the floor. Going green will take on a whole new meaning in the coming years!
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