Loss Prevention Solutions for Grocery Retailers: Alpha Security

Grocery retailers are becoming more and more aware of the impact of shrink.  Shoplifters often target high dollar items for the purpose of resale.  In the grocery sector liquor is one of the more sought after items for theft.  Knowing this has caused many retailers to use Liquor bottle security.  Bottle locks have quickly become the go to Liquor bottle security solution for many national, regional and local grocery retailers.

The impact of bottle lock technology can be immediately seen in a grocer’s shortage numbers.  By employing bottle locks, a business can create an environment that deters shoplifting.  Bottle lock technology works in a fashion that secures the stores merchandise, but is not intrusive to the customer.  Alpha security provides a product called EASy bottle.  The EASy bottle is a product that is great for grocery retailers and for service industry businesses.  The EASy bottle allows the owner to limit access to the contents of liquor and wine bottles.  The EASy bottle is attached to the cork or bottle opening to secure the product from being opened.  The bottle lock is released with a key that is specific in design for the lock.   This bottle lock is currently being used for liquor bottle security in grocery, restaurants and bars.

Bottle locks can also be useful in liquor bottle security for internal theft.   By controlling product with bottle locks, you can limit your employees’ access to liquor.  Internal theft is an unfortunate element of any business.  By using Alpha Security’s EASy bottle, employees will be less able to remove product from the store.  This will work best if the bottle locks are secured and only accessible to your management staff.  Bottle security should be a focus for any management team, business, corporation, or grocery.  Bottle security can help secure your product and limit access by unwanted thieves.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Bottoms up!

A few years ago I went into the local grocery store after a hard days work. I was wandering the aisles meaninglessly, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. A man had been lingering by the corner of a back aisle with a bottle of whiskey. He didn’t see me at first and proceeded to stuff the bottle down his pants! It was wrong on so many levels.

Up until that day, I never gave liquor bottle security much thought. I then began to wonder about what type of bottle security was even out there. As it turns out, there is more bottle security than what one might think.

The most common type of bottle security is the EASy bottle bottle lock by Alpha Security. The EASy bottle is a cap that is placed over the neck to prevent someone from opening the liquor bottle. You would have to break the neck to open the bottle up. No one really needs shards of glass in their cocktail, so it is pretty effective at keeping someone out.

There are several different styles of EASy Bottle locks to choose from. Each one is designed to accommodate the real customer, while deterring the thief. These bottle locks will not only work for liquor bottles, but for wine bottles as well.

If the grocery store I had visited had used this sort of liquor bottle security, I doubt they would have lost that bottle of whisky and many more like it.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security Bottle Lock, Bottle locks , or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Bottle Locks in Action.

While preparing for my Thanksgiving dinner, I stopped into the local liquor store to see what their wine selection looked like. Having spent the last decade in Loss Prevention, my attention was drawn to a group in the corner of the store. They had rather hushed voices, and rather large bags with them. I noticed that they seemed to be having a debate because of something on the bottle. I noticed it was an EASy Bottle bottle lock by Alpha security.

It was pretty clear, at least to me, that they were not anticipating any sort of bottle security. As they started to deliberate over how to go about circumventing the bottle lock, an employee came around the corner. Quickly, they left the five or six bottles of liquor in the corner and left the building.

Now, I don’t know if the employee had any clue what was going on. I do know that the EASy Bottle did its part. The bottle security worked just like it was supposed to, and prevented a theft from occurring.

Liquor bottle security doesn’t have to be some complicated process of cabinets or security guards keeping a watchful eye. All it takes sometimes is the simplicity of bottle locks and the moment of time to install them.

I was able to see first hand how simple it is. Bravo to the shopkeeper who invested in liquor bottle security.  Bravo!

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

EASy bottle security is EASY!

One of the easiest ways to protect your profits is by using EASy bottle locks. Positive sales growth can be achieved by protecting your assets and EASy bottle locks will do just that.

As a long time employee of the retail environment, I have seen pretty successful companies relate their positive liquor sales to protecting their merchandise and providing bottle security. From convenience stores, to the giant supermarkets, protecting your merchandise should be an easy choice.

The first time I had seen a bottle lock, I was working in a chain of grocery stores that had just obtained their liquor license. They were green, to say the least, and didn’t really have any idea about bottle security. None-the-less, they pushed out the merchandise and looked for the sales. After about a month, they looked at received merchandise, in-stock items and sales. Not much was making sense as sales were low, receivables were high and in-stock was low. Something was happening. After our loss prevention investigation, it was clear to us that the loss was coming from bottle security, resulting in theft. We recommended a bottle security program designed to impact loss and sustain profitability. We installed EASy bottle locks on many items above a certain price point or ones that we deemed a risk a monitored the growth and activity. Shrink was reduced, and the growth for this retailer looks very good.

It’s seems so simple to think that an item like a bottle lock can provide the necessary amount of protection for merchandise. If you have a problem with loss in your liquor department, look at using a bottle lock.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase products by Alpha Security.

For more information on Bottle Lock, Bottle Security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Physical security of Bottles… YES YOU CAN!

For many years in the Loss Prevention field it was a frustration to find a way to physically secure bottled product that still allowed the customer to easily read and handle the product. This was almost impossible without having to waste payroll or hurt customer service by having the product locked up and pulling an employee to unlock and show the product to the customer who has been patiently waiting only to now have an employee standing over them giving them a feeling that they are not trusted.

Unfortunately liquor bottle security was one of the top shrink frustrations, many of us tried to use a soft EAS tag as a type of bottle lock or tried to tie EAS lanyards around the bottle with a checkpoint security tag. Unfortunately neither served successfully as bottle locks. Niether of these attempts at bottle security were asthetically pleasing nor offered easy ways to store the bottles. Finally a company called Alpha security came to the resue of business owners everywhere from both a sales and loss prevention point of view.

Alpha Security offers different types of “alarmed” EASy bottle locks that are very effective since they will set off an alarm if a thief attempts to defeat the tag as well as making the product non consumable thus useless. These bottle locks also allow product to be merchandised in areas fully accessible by customers in ways that maximize marketing appearances. The tags are lean and allow for easy storage on store shelves and while clearly labled are still pleasing to the eye. By bringing product out to the store shelves so that customers can easily study and select businesses can and have maximized their sales.

EASy bottle locks is a catchy name letting you know that even if the thief decides to try to leave the premises with the bottle hoping to defeat the alarmed bottle lock at home the EAS checkpoint pedestals at the front of the store will sense the bottle lock.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Alpha security … A great partner in liquor bottle security.

We don’t often think of anti theft devices in terms of being a partnership.  We tend to look at anti theft devices as a cost or just a business product we have to buy.  Alpha Security has, in my opinion, done a lot to break this mold.  Alpha Security has spent a great deal of time and money to develop anti theft devices geared to their business partner’s needs.  Instead of creating generic devices, they have custom products aimed at keeping your products openly displayed for easy sales while also providing solid anti shoplifting protection.

One such product is the “EASy Bottle” bottle lock.  This product is great for liquor bottle security.  You can place the “EASy Bottle” bottle lock on the top of your expensive or frequently stolen bottles and keep them safe.  The bottle locks keep the thieves from getting to the product inside the bottle and they work with existing AM and RF EAS systems to sound an alarm if someone tries to walk out without paying.  The locks are nearly impossible for a thief to remove without breaking the bottle, but is easily removed by the associate at checkout with a special key.

Alpha Security also has bottle locks to provide not only liquor bottle security, but bottle security in general.  Do you sell champagnes or other high end wines?  While the mouth of these bottles are usually too big for the EASy Bottle lock, there are other bottle security locks that can be purchased.  These bottle locks go around the neck of the bottle and also work with your existing EAS systems to alert you to theft.  The main benefit is that since thieves know these locks will alert you they are less likely to even try.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Bottle Lock, Alpha Security, Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Alpha Security products versus the shoplifter

Actually, there is no comparison. Alpha security products have a higher success rate than shoplifters. More often than not, the shoplifter is left feeling a little sober.

Liquor bottle security has long been an issue for retailers. How can you protect your profits without actually hurting your profits? It can be a very daunting dilemma. I believe Alpha security has developed a great solution to better bottle security with bottle locks.

I did work for a small grocery chain that had been experiencing non-stop liquor shrink or loss. We looked at all possible reasons that might cause liquor bottle shrink and determined that shoplifting was the main culprit. Setting out to develop an action plan, management wanted a solution that would not hurt sales or customer service. In the past, they had liquor bottles with no bottle lock, locked up in cabinets, and customers would have to request service to get their favorite beverage. The solution was simple, a bottle lock from Alpha Security. Bottle locks are tough to defeat devices that protect not only the profits but the merchandise as well.

We installed EASy bottle locks on several brands above a certain price point; I then monitored the liquor department. During the first week, via CCTV, I watched at least 5 different shoplifters attempt to defeat, disable and/or damage the bottle locks on various merchandise. It was no doubt liquor bottle security in this store was solid. To the management staff and me, there was no better solution to bottle security than EASy bottle locks.

Over the next week, the small grocery chain rolled out the bottle security program to the other 10 stores. Over the year, the chain decreased liquor bottle shrink, and increased their profits.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

 For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Lock, Bottle locks, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

The Real Cost of Shrink

Retailers are scrutinized for their profits like never before. Whether a company has to report to franchise owners, shareholders or investment firms, someone is always looking at the bottom line profit. In the case of anyone who does alcohol sales, the cost of losing even one bottle is astronomical.

First you have to look at the cost of the bottle lost. Then you have to start adding up how much it would be to replace that bottle. It’s not just the price of a new bottle; there are many other associated costs.

You have to add up the margin loss on the first bottle, and the cost of any manager or employee to investigate that theft. Don’t forget the labor cost of checking inventory on hands to reorder the correct amount of product. There are labor costs to receive, unload and merchandise the new bottle…. The list can go on and on.

While using products like Alpha Security’s Easy bottle bottle locks can be an initial investment, the long-term price of liquor bottle security pays for itself in the end.

To use this type of liquor bottle security, labor is only used once to apply the bottle locks. To detach the locks takes only a moment of time at the POS. It is much quicker than trying to figure out what happened to a bottle of alcohol. Long term payouts with a short-term investment always makes prying eyes happy!

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Why a Bottle Lock is Better

If you are using or are thinking about using liquor bottle security, Alpha Security bottle locks are the way to go. These hard tags and bottle wraps are available for RF (Radio Frequency i.e. Checkpoint), AM (Acousto-Magnetic i.e. Sensormatic) and also none alarming locations.

I have noticed that a lot of locations that are selling spirits these days are still using a sticker label similar to what you would see on clothing or some boxed item. While this is still a valid method to help prevent theft, there are a couple of problems that might occur. The first problem with a label attached to a bottle is that the “strength” of the label is diminished when it is placed directly on the thick glass bottle filled liquid. The other problem is that most bottles are curved and do not provide a flat spot for the label. When a security label bends it starts to lose its “queue” which means that it is no longer sitting at the original frequency that it was designed to have.

For these reasons, your bottle security will be much higher if you utilize a bottle lock. These bottle locks are made of hard plastic and reinforced with metal, which keeps the tag in place and separates it from the bottle. You also get the added bonus of locking the top of the bottle, and this will keep someone from being able to access the contents without having to break the neck of the bottle causing glass shards to end up in the substance.

Using Alpha security bottle locks will greatly reduce the amount of shrink and increase your liquor bottle security to a level that you have yet to experience.

Whether it is the legacy style EASy bottle or a new Crystal Guard, let us help you increase your bottle security.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Sales and Security: The EASy Bottle Plan!

I can not believe that just a few years ago we actually thought the best strategy for liquor bottle security would be to take all of our liquor bottle inventory and lock it up to protect it from theft. That decision brought our business precariously close to going belly up. My problem was that before I started my own business I was in the Loss Prevention industry for about fifteen years. My initial thoughts were not to maximize sales via marketing, no no no, I looked at the product and shivered at the thought of how easy the thefts could occur. Having the product out live when we first opened resulted in some heavy duty shrink as well some over zealous shoplifter apprehensions by me and my staff. Our liquor bottle security plan was failing miserably. So being up against the wall with a faltering package store business bleeding product and losing sales I needed to get help fast. My knee jerk reaction was to lock all the product up and have an extra person on the floor to open the lockable cases when a customer wanted a particular item. This hurt me on payroll as well as backing up the register area with lines due to the slowness of the product coming from the cases. Something had to change otherwise our business would become another lost business statistic.

I found a company called Alpha Security which offered a variety of bottle locks, yes, I said bottle locks. The main product for bottle security is called the EASy Bottle lock it is an alarmed bottle lock that slides over the top of the bottle snugly. The bottle lock can not be removed without the detacher that Alpha Security provides. The bottle locks will sound an alarm if tampered with and if further attempts are made to remove the bottle lock it will render the product in consumable. I was totally amazed by the bottle lock. They are lean and aesthetically pleasing. The EASy bottle locks are clearly marked as to what they are and what they do, however, they are not overbearing or gaudy. The really cool thing about it was that I could get rid of those awful lockable cases and pack the shelves with the product. The bottle locks are lean enough so as to not affect storage or marketing of the merchandise while still offering excellent bottle security. This was another plus since I was now able to utilize my vendors marketing materials which really helped our sales to pick up. I can not thank Alpha Security enough for developing the EASy Bottle lock. This liquor bottle security strategy truly saved our business. I am glad I took the time to research the issue instead of staying with a bottle security plan that was dooming my business. Now that sales are up and my customer base has increased I have been able to hire more employees at a time when the economy is really not doing that well.

The holidays are here and I actually thought maybe I should gear back on the amount of bottle locks I have on the sales floor. You see business has been so busy I thought I could save time by just processing the liquor bottle shipment on the floor and put the un tagged liquor bottles on the shelves. I gave it some serious thought and fortunately my former loss prevention experience screamed inside of me..”What are you Crazy???” Having the EASy bottle locks employed during this busy season is like having an extra employee on the floor. I realized taking the extra time to install the bottle locks would pay off come inventory time.  I strongly recommend this product to anyone selling wine or liquor bottles .

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547