It might be too early for retailers to prepare for the holiday season, but it is never too early to implement security measures to prevent shoplifting in their stores. The holiday season attracts more customers than at any other time of the year, therefore shoplifting incidents increase with the increase of customers as well.
Having and implementing security measures before the holiday season starts can be beneficial to your bottom line.
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Shoplifting: How to prevent ‘blind spots’ in the store layout
Though many types of theft deterrent equipment exist, one of the most effective and affordable approaches is preventing retail shoplifting is by avoiding “blind spots” in the store layout.
In this regard, one of the hardest places for supermarket or mass merchandise cashiers to control and easily view has been under the shopping basket, which is usually blocked by a basketful of other items above it. Failing to ring up items under the basket before customers leave the store can be extremely costly to retailers.
To prevent such losses, one nationally recognized mass-market retailer has already installed over 90,000 bottom-of-the basket (BOB) mirrors in an effort to limit this type of shrinkage in their business. The inventive mirrors are comprised of lightweight acrylic and the mirror mounts opposite the standing cashier to provide a clear, unobstructed view of the bottom of the cart without requiring the cashier to move or stoop, which also expedites checkout.
Tuesday Tip: How to Avoid Shrink
Retail theft affects a retailer’s bottom line and, ultimately, the cost of goods to the consumer. According to the 2017 National Retail Security Survey released in June by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida, retail theft and other inventory shrink grew to $48.9 billion in 2016 from $45.2 billion in 2015. The thefts amounted to 1.44 percent of sales, up from 1.38 percent the prior year. So what are retailers to do to minimize shrink?
“Good customer service is the best deterrent to theft,” said Tom Konopacki, owner of Anastazia Treasures for the Home in Geneva, Ill. Introducing yourself and letting your customers know you’re there and willing to help them also lets them know that you’re aware of them and possibly watching.
Sorting It Out: Protecting the Supply Chain Against 4 Common Security Threats
Maintaining Security Awareness is Essential
Retailers in America lost billions of dollars in 2016, largely due to shoplifting, employee theft and other types of inventory “shrink, according to new data compiled by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the University of Florida. The survey shows that inventory shrink grew to $48.9 billion in 2016 from $45.2 billion the year prior. The increases in losses were found to be largely due to the result of flat or declining retail security budgets.
“While Retailers are proactive in combating criminal activity in their stores they acknowledge that they still have a lot of work left to do,” NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention Bob Moraca said. “The job is made much more difficult when loss prevention experts can’t get the money they need to beef up their staffs and resources. Retail executives need to realize that money spent on preventing losses is money that improves the bottom line.”
Nearly half (48.8 percent) of retailers surveyed said they saw an increase in inventory shrink, while nearly 17 percent said it remained flat.
A Department of Corrections officer was arrested this week at a Walmart for shoplifting. The perpetrator was a former Walmart employee who had left to become a corrections officer. The incident was reported to the authorities, indicating the amount stolen was around $400 dollars during 45 visits at that particular Walmart.
Are you hiring someone who has the tendency to steal from their employer?
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Black Friday morning and we had lines of customers jockeying for position at 16 front end cash registers, two pharmacy registers, a jewelry counter register and 2 registers at our electronics counter. Sure, there were a lot of people, hundreds if not a thousand at one time but we were handling it. I had our Loss Prevention team monitoring cameras, checking receipts at the front doors and walking the floor with “Security” jackets on to deter theft and prevent fights. The store management team had good plans in place for replenishing freight on the floor and giving employees breaks. I had worked with the Store Manager to control the flow of customers into our building and all had gone off without a hitch, no pushing, shoving or fights. I even had a number of police officers at our front doors aiding us with crowd control. We had really planned for every contingency, or so we thought. The one thing that we had not planned for happened and it was a major problem, our register system went down! The audible sighs, snide remarks, and expressions of anger and frustration were heard in one collective voice. All of our managers jumped into action trying to reboot registers and get systems back online. Ever so slowly we got things moving again but it was a nightmare and it made us realize the scary truth, we had not really prepared for everything as well as we thought we had. A number of shopping carts had been abandoned with Black Friday specials in them and no salesfloor staff available to re-shelve the merchandise.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought it would be an appropriate time for me to ask the employers out there how thankful are you for the staff you have? I don’t mean are you just thankful you have people who work for you in a general sense but how thankful are you for what they bring to the workplace every day? Maybe you have never thought about it like that. I’m certain you are thankful that Bobby showed up on time today or Mary Jane rang up customers without a customer complaint. But have you ever looked at how you express your thanks to your team? Maybe your attitude is that you pay them and that should be enough. Perhaps you give your employees a birthday card when their birthday rolls around each year. But is that really sufficient? Is it fair for your employees to expect more from you in terms of recognition?
I watched a video shared with me by a former Loss Prevention Manager colleague. The video showed three subjects enter a retail store and all appeared to be wearing masks and at least one looked to be carrying a rifle of some type. There were several employees at the front entrance when the subjects walked in and one of the employees seemed to say something to the one who was carrying what I will refer to as a rifle. The video was not the greatest and the camera is pointing into the store from the exterior door so for the most part, the backs of the perpetrators are seen.
Are you a small business owner dealing with the security of your store? Are you tired of not knowing where the losses are coming from? Employee theft and shoplifting are two of the major losses retail stores across the United States face every day. The millions of dollars the retail industry loses every day are due to employee theft and shoplifting, so how do you prepare yourself from employee theft? Employee background checks can be a first step in dealing with employee theft. Paying for background checks for your employees is investing in the future of your store. Training them and going through the hiring process takes time and money. By hiring the right people the first time, you save time and money that can be spent elsewhere.
Addiction is a big factor is some shoplifters’s lives.