As I do with nearly every store I go into I am interested to see the types of security measures different businesses use to prevent theft. Recently I have visited three grocery stores affiliated with different chains. I looked at what they were doing to protect the wines they carry. I find it interesting to compare bottle security strategies among the retailers. In this case all three stores are within a 5 mile radius of my home and yet there were no similarities among any of them.  

The first store I visited uses bottle locks to secure higher priced bottle of wines. It appeared they set a price point around $25 per bottle before they used a bottle lock on their products. The locks covered the entire cap and part of the bottle neck. There was no ability to see the advertising on the seal of the bottle with this particular device. It did appear there was no way the cap or seal could be tampered with making this an effective deterrent tool.  

The second store I visited used a lock up case to secure the higher priced wines.  There was no additional security for any of the other bottles of wine or champagnes on the shelves. Two things disturbed me about this type of bottle security. First, had someone been shopping for the higher priced wine, there were no empty places on the shelf or signage indicating a customer should ask for assistance to make a purchase.   Second, I saw no sales associates in the area. Even if there was signage directing a customer to get help to obtain a wine in lock-up, I saw no one to assist and I did not see an apparent call button in the area.  

Finally I went to a grocery store that had no bottle security whatsoever. There were no bottle locks in use and no security cases. The wine was located near the front of the store, in the vicinity of the registers, but there was no direct line of sight to act as a deterrent to potential theft. I did look at the price points and there were few, if any, bottles priced over $20. The area this store is located has enough crime that the store has gone from being a 24/7 operation to closing at midnight and now closing at 11:00pm. I know there is enough theft in this store that closed circuit television monitors have been placed on the baby formula aisle.  

So here is my good, bad and the ugly of my observations and what a good strategy would be for a grocery store:

• The Good: The use of bottle locks in the first store. A Bottle lock provides visual deterrence to theft, they are electronic article surveillance compatible and they allow a customer the ability to handle the merchandise, see the advertising and content information and there is no requirement to wait for someone to unlock a case.

• The Bad: Limited use of bottle locks on only select price points.  Inconsistent use of the locks. Where bottles did have locks on the caps, when I looked more closely, I found some were secured and behind those were same brand bottles without locks. I am also listing the use of a locking case as bad.  While it does provide bottle security it requires employee response and if a patron has to wait too long it can lead to a lost sale.

• The ugly: No bottle security of any type. 

If you own a grocery business or manage one, I strongly encourage you to invest in a bottle lock for each of your wine bottles. While it may seem like a lot, the payoff will be in reduced shrinkage. Shoplifters will steal unprotected merchandise so securing the higher priced merchandise simply moves the thieves to the cheaper bottles. I do not encourage lock up cases to be used since they can turn off customers and potentially cost your business sales. You also need to have an employee ready to respond at all times to unlock a case. Don’t settle on just enough security or none at all, see how bottle locks can protect your investment and drive up sales.

For more information on bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

 “I can’t take you anywhere!” Is the normal phrase I get from my girlfriend when we are out shopping and I tell her that I just saw someone steal some merchandise. She can’t understand why I’m so worried about someone else’s store, or why we can never go out without me helping throw someone in jail. It’s just that I feel as though I have a moral obligation when my LP spidey senses start tingling… plus, I’m usually bored to tears shopping with her anyway. (Please don’t tell her I said that). Just last week, I introduced a restaurant manager to bottle locks.

We had just spend the majority of the day applying for our passports when that all too familiar feeling hit. It was 2pm. I was hungry. We went to a little place known in our town for their Greek cuisine. We sat near the bar and I began to enjoy my hummus and pita. I was admiring the display of top shelf liquor when I noticed a woman acting a bit strange near the bar. When the bartender would walk to the kitchen, she would hover, just like a shoplifter does. I told my girlfriend what I suspected and she laughed. I tried to convince her of my point, after all there were no bottle security measures in place. It would be quite easy to simple walk away with some booze.

Some time passes and we get our food. The woman stays at the bar. Sipping on some white wine and eating her salad. The bartender walks into the kitchen again and almost as fast as a bolt of lightning, the woman reaches behind the bar, grabs a bottle of high end tequila and shoves it in her purse. Since there were no bottle security measures in place, it was almost too easy. Of course, I get excited at this point, all while my girlfriend just buries her head under her arms.

I wait until the woman purchases her meal before calling over a manager. I discreetly inform him of what I saw and he exclaims, “Again!” As our boozy bandit attempts to leave her spot at the bar, the manager and a police officer take her outside where the tequila was eventually recovered. When the dust settled, the manager came back and thanked me for speaking up. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time someone had stolen liquor from behind his bar recently. I asked him if he had ever heard of bottle locks.

Well, the next thing you know, I’ve got my phone pulled out and I’m showing him how bottle locks could ultimately stop people from stealing his liquor. He was amazed. He’d worked in the restaurant business his entire life and had never thought that bottle security was an issue until running this particular place. He told me that he’d lost countless thousands in stolen liquor in the past year. Now, he had something that could help curb his losses.

I left that day with a heavily discounted meal and a feeling of pride. Not pride that I helped throw another thief in jail, I was proud that I could help a fellow manager control the losses he was experiencing with a simple tool and a little advice. It’s why I enjoy writing these posts for all of you out there. I know someone, somewhere has this very same issue, and you’re sick and tired of it. Hopefully and it is my goal, that you read this and my little nugget of advice resonates with you and it ultimately makes your business stronger and more profitable. We can all drink to that!

For more information about Bottle Locks contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.

When those of us in the retail world think about bottle security the first thing that always comes to mind are alcoholic beverages. This is a category of product that does carry a hefty price tag and requires protection. Bottle locks provide that protection and can take the worry out of carrying these products, which allows a store to increase their sales by broadening their product lines. Broadening product lines increases customer appeal and draws in patrons you may not have catered to previously.

My personal experience with bottle security is limited to wines and champagnes. I recall when the company I worked for began carrying alcohol, even in a limited form I was concerned about the theft we were going to see in that area. We did not have any protection for our product other than closed circuit television, emphasis on customer service and a small Assets Protection Team. We did not tag the bottles since it would interfere with branding of the product and it was a vendor item so we did receive vendor credit when product did not sell or was removed by the vendor. To be frank, I was not even aware if there was anything on the market to provide bottle security. If I had known I would have screamed to my District Team Leader to look into such a thing.

Bottle locks would have been the perfect solution for our situation.The device can be fitted directly over the cap of a bottle to prevent the bottle from being opened. Additionally, they come in a variety of sizes and designs allowing retailers the flexibility to protect multiple bottle designs. They work in conjunction with an EAS system so they provide a double layer of protection activating the alarm at the door if someone attempted to walk out without paying. Should someone attempt to pry the device off, there is a strong possibility they will shatter the bottle. 

While shoplifting was something I knew we might have to combat, I was also very concerned about the security of the product in our stockroom. Anyone who has worked in retail security or retail management knows how vulnerable a backroom can be with plenty of areas to hide, and often limited staffing in those areas. It can be a very real challenge with respect to shortage control. With the addition of wine and champagne in our vendor area, I did have to try to find ways to monitor the product and deter theft. It required dedicating resources to the area and our Assets Protection team increased trash checks and audits to look for signs of theft. On the surface it may not seem like much, but there were other areas I would have preferred to focus our attention. Had we implemented a bottle security program that included bottle locks, we could have spent far less time and energy monitoring the backroom for potential pilferage of alcohol.

I can think of a few instances where our team did prevent attempted rollouts of bottles of wine, and our shortage results never reflected huge shortage in the wine department, but we did have some theft. As a big box retailer, we had the advantage of employing a loss prevention team and we had sales floor staff that helped to deter theft, but I have often questioned how difficult it must be for a small business owner to control theft. What can the owner of a liquor store, or say a wine specialty store do to protect THEIR business? Smaller staffs, tighter payroll and limited resources make it critical that the product stay in the store. Small businesses could add to their profits by significantly reducing shortage using bottle locks to deter theft. 

Increase the price points of the wines and liquors your business carries, knowing that you have a strong bottle security program in place. Use bottle locks to your advantage, by protecting your product and keeping it out of the hands of thieves and in the hands of customers and watch your profits soar!       

For more information about bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

If you own or manage a store that sells wine or liquor, you should already know that the best way to ensure bottle security is to use bottle locks. But sometimes the theft occurs before the liquor even makes it to the store. Many trailers containing merchandise are now equipped with GPS to locate the stolen trailer, but you may be locating an empty trailer if the thieves work fast enough. Very recently, I read a news story about a trailer theft of liquor totaling $100,000. That is a huge loss for even for a large company. Knowing this, wouldn’t it be a good idea to protect the liquor bottles from the point of origin? That’s right, I’m talking about protecting merchandise against cargo theft, or the theft of goods in transit. The company buying the merchandise would likely be responsible for the cost of securing the merchandise, but who exactly would be responsible for actually placing the devices onto the products.

One way to do this is to have the bottle locks placed onto the bottles when they reach the distribution center, and that would help keep your merchandise safe until it reaches its final destination. But this wouldn’t protect the merchandise before it reached the distribution center.   In a perfect world, the best time to attach bottle locks to the merchandise is before they leave the manufacturer. This would ensure that the merchandise was immediately secured before being transported anywhere, by any means of transportation. Regardless of which point the bottle security devices are attached, the likelihood of them being stolen will decrease at that point. 

Think of it kind of like manufacturers that offer source tagging, only with bottle security. With source tagging, the security tag is already inside or attached to the merchandise packaging when it leaves the manufacturer.   This allows the items to be protected from the manufacturer to the store shelf. I would like to think that if thieves know that a trailer contains merchandise protected by security devices, and that it will take a huge amount effort to remove all of them, they would think twice about stealing the merchandise from the trailer or shipping container. One problem with this would be that the thieves probably won’t know what exactly is in the trailer until it is opened, unless the shipping container is branded or contains some kind of advertising on the outside.

If this is the case, you could always add a notice that the merchandise is protected. Why not? This would be similar to the way that signs on homes with alarm systems are used to make burglars think twice before attempting to break into your house. There’s no guarantee that a thief still won’t try to break in, but if given the choice of a home without a security system, and one without one, I’m betting they will choose the one that isn’t secured.If you think it sounds expensive to have your shipment of liquor secured with bottle locks, imagine how much it will cost you if you lost a whole shipment of your merchandise. You might not have an order as large as $100,000 coming in, but even if the shipment is worth $1,000, it would likely be a huge blow to a small business. How much time would it take you to recoup that kind of loss? I think it’s always a better idea to be prepared, and make sure that your merchandise is protected, instead of wishing you would have done something before it was too late.

For more information about bottle locks contact us or call 1.770.426.0547