Shrinkage takes a massive bite out of your stores bottom line. Shoplifters are one of the highest contributors to shrinkage for the retail industry. Retailers have a myriad of ways to protect their assets from thieves. We have to think smarter than the thief and stay one step ahead of them at every turn to prevent shoplifting. We accomplish this goal by using the most advanced security devices available and embracing new technology. Most stores will place spider wraps and large tags on their products for theft prevention. That is an excellent deterrent for boxed items and clothing, but what about our clamshell packaged merchandise? In the stores that I have worked Loss Prevention for, we can easily have over 50 percent of our products hanging on a peg hook. With such a large quantity, why wouldn’t you protect that product as well? Many stores are forgetting about those areas, which leads to a trending high amount of loss each year.
In one of my stores, my expert Loss Prevention team apprehended 132 shoplifters in 1 year. 60% of those shoplifting cases had product that was selected from peg hooks versus off fixtures. I would place the merchandise on a locking peg hook thinking it was protected and that the merchandise could not be removed unless an associate unlocked the peg. However, it never failed that a thief would come through with a knife and cut the top of the plastic off. This was so they could get the product off of the locking peg and steal it easily. I watched one morning via CCTV, a shoplifter come through an aisle of high dollar product on pegs. I noticed the subject quickly pulling an item out of his pocket. I saw on camera that he pulled out his own box cutter, and then cut a whole row of product off. After getting the merchandise off, he concealed it all into an empty shopping bag! After concealing, he had a get away driver waiting and fled the scene. It all happened extremely fast. Not only did he get away with 10 expensive items, but it could have been a harmful situation for associates. We had to change the culture! We had to put a stop to the thieves from coming in, using knives/box cutters to steal items regularly. After figuring out where the issue was, I was able to get approval to order the Alpha Hang Tag. I had no idea these existed in the Loss Prevention world. I received a shipment in and place them on our highest theft products to prevent shoplifting in that area. I would complete counts daily to track if the Alpha Hang Tag was truly working. After 4 weeks of usage and tracking, I found 0 product was cut off by thieves. The only product that was missing, was the product that was sold to customers. This was a huge win for my store!
After noting the success rate, I was able to obtain approval to order more and place it on other products as well. The feedback I received from associates was likewise positive. The Alpha Hang Tag is extremely small, so it is very customer friendly. It is also easy to put on, so it does not take inordinate amounts of time for the associates to put on before putting the merchandise on the sales floor. The best part for the store was not finding tons of empty packaging daily any longer, knowing that we were able to prevent shoplifting!
Get more information on how to prevent shoplifting, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
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