Reduced sales linked to employee theft – Atlanta Georgia

Many business leaders contribute low profits to employee theft.  What you may not know is low sales can also be an indicator of employee theft (or internal theft in the retail world).  If you are noticing the same customer count, but decreased sales volume it’s time to launch and employee theft investigation.

Sure.  The answer could be that the employees just aren’t selling enough.  This could be due to standards like not getting the add-on’s, not suggestive selling or not merchandising to maximize appearance.  The answer could also be internal theft.  There are several ways that employees can steal that will directly impact sales results.  One way is through voids.  Associates can void individual items, but still allow the “customer” (i.e. their friends and family) to leave with the product.  You now lost the inventory, but your customer also purchased less.  Associates can also void whole transactions after a customer leaves.  This allows them to take the cash and the system thinks the sale never happened.  Again, you lost the inventory, but you also lost the sale as it is no longer in the system.

Another main way that employee theft occurs is through “sweet hearting”.  This is the LP term for “hooking up” others.  A cashier can do this a few ways, but the main ones are underringing and pass offs.  In underringing the cashier changes the price to charge someone significantly less than what they should be paying.  Again, this will cause less sales than if the items left at full price.  The associate can also bag items without ringing them up and let a friend, family member or other employee leave with the product.

Internal theft is the main causal factor for most retail loss, but it can also significantly sales.  I recommend using a trained LP Professional to conduct a routine employee theft investigation to ensure sales and profits remain high.

For more information on employee theft, employee theft investigation or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia