Safety and Security For Your Retail Store

October 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment

As the biggest shopping season of the year seems inevitable close, retailers across the world prepare themselves to not only have a great holiday season but a profitable one.

Merchandise is not the only aspect retailers need to prepare themselves for this season. Hiring employees and making sure security is in place are as important as the merchandise they plan to sell.

Retail shoplifting cannot be solved by having a  simple solution only.  Management, owners, and employees play an incredibly important role to combat shoplifting in their stores among security systems and loss prevention personnel.

CCTV systems cannot by themselves offer the solution for the growing shoplifting problems that are pervasive in the retail industry. Customer service,  personnel training, or security systems cannot be the answer to this problem either if they are implemented by themselves.

A security system, excellent customer service, and trained personnel in the store can help you combat shoplifting if implemented together to offer a solution to the shoplifting in your store.

Having excellent customer service first and foremost has been found to help deter shoplifting in retail stores as well as any other security measure.  Trained personnel at checkouts can stop customers from lingering too long and walking out with merchandise they have not paid because the lines were too long and didn’t want to wait any longer.

Implementing security measures to follow in case of a shoplifting incident can save lives. Is the security personnel team in your store trained and know what to do when approaching a shoplifter?  Reviewing security measures with all your employees is paramount, but security personnel need to know what to do and when to do the approaching and apprehension of a shoplifter.

Keeping your employees and customers safe has to be your number one priority regardless of what the shoplifter is pocketing.  By following the guidelines of the store, employees and customers alike can feel safe and can count on the store to protect their safety. No amount of merchandise that a shoplifter is pocketing is worth the lives of your customers or employees.

Have a safe and profitable season this year!

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Fitting Room Theft

October 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment

You know the drill. At the end of the day, you find your merchandise tags on the floor or hidden in your fitting rooms. Shoplifters bring your merchandise into a fitting room and put it on under their clothes. Sometimes many layers of your apparel are under the clothes they wore in.

One in ten people that walk through your doors is there to steal. It is a fact of retail life. Studies show that a large percentage of these thieves are female and under the age of thirty. This feeds into the fact that the average retailer’s inventory shrink from shoplifting is approximately 35%.

Shoplifters conceal your merchandise in a variety of ways, in a stroller, pockets, a booster bag, booster clothing or like mentioned above, simply wearing your merchandise out of your store under their clothing. All of these methods require one thing, privacy, even if only for a few seconds. What better place to get privacy in a retail store than a fitting room. Shoplifters can take their time. And because some fitting rooms are handicap accessible, it is not a problem to bring that shoplifting vehicle (stroller) right in with them.

What can you do to protect yourself from theft that a fitting room helps to facilitate? Start with fitting room design:

  • Fitting rooms should not be located in out of the way areas. I prefer high-traffic areas.
  • Walls should be smooth and continuous with no decorations, picture frames, signs… that a shoplifter can hide or dispose of a price tag.
  • Mirrors should be permanently attached to the wall and the edges should be caulked to keep the thieves from hiding labels behind them.
  • Avoid carpeting in the fitting room. Carpet can be pulled up and labels can be hidden there. If you have to use carpet, ensure it is one piece and the edges are securely glued to the flooring.
  • Doors should not go all the way to the floor.  This still provides privacy but does not give the shoplifter a complete feeling of privacy.
  • Doors should have a lock that is called a “storeroom” style. This means that a key is always required to unlock the door and that cannot be changed by turning the knob on the other side.
  • Bright lighting helps your legitimate shopper but gives the shoplifter less of a feeling of privacy.
  • CCTV cameras in plain sight outside of the fitting room doors. The area outside of a fitting room is the perfect place for a public view monitor so customers see that the system is live.
  • Chimes that alert staff when a fitting room door opens.
  • Seating such as benches should be fixed or built in. Any seams, cracks should be sealed. The underside of the bench should be a smooth surface that will not facilitate the hiding of tags.
  • Cove base and shoe mold should be securely mounted, the edges glued and caulked.

Of course, all of this is worthless without proper procedures and a trained staff:

  • Consider fitting room attendants that count garments in/out.
  • Key control. Staff must never leave a key in the fitting room door.
  • For high volume and multiple fitting rooms use a number tag system.
  • Consider limiting the number of items a customer can take into the fitting room at one time.
  • Staff should be trained to keep an eye on anyone who they have let into a fitting room. This is not just a theft concern but also customer service. Your staff can keep track of merchandise and help the customer with different sizes.
  • Do not allow merchandise to build up outside the fitting room. Besides presenting a sloppy appearance, a disorganized area allows shoplifters to more easily conceal merchandise and tags.
  • Customer service, customer service, customer service…

Make sure that when you do have an incident that you bring it to the attention of all staff members so everyone can learn from it. Even though the key to preventing this kind of theft is customer service, you may still have more than acceptable losses. At that point, it is time for a Checkpoint System. The tags on the merchandise are working 24/7 and will alarm even if the stolen merchandise is under the shoplifters clothing.

Contact us at 770-426-7593 if you have any questions about this topic, would like our help or if you would like a quote on a Checkpoint System.

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Helpers Hired For The Holidays May Take Advantage of You

October 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment

I wonder if Santa Clause conducts background checks on his newly hired elves? I’ve been contemplating the chaos that would take place in Santa’s workshop if he just hired any old elf to work for him. Does Santa ever get into a time crunch right around June and bring in seasonal hires to help meet timelines to get all of the toys made? Imagine the pilferage that would ensue if Santa’s Helpers haven’t been properly screened for criminal activity before being brought on board. Defective dolls might be delivered to darling little girls who deserve better. No firetrucks for a little fella because a fiendish elf stole it.  I have no idea what might happen at the North Pole but what I do know is that retailers DO get in a crunch for adding seasonal staff and that CAN lead to criminal activity and chaos.

     There are times when employers hire staff for their busiest times of the year but they rush into it as if they had no idea it was coming. Poor strategic planning can lead to a hurry up and hire mentality. This leads to a myriad of issues:

  • Managers are no longer as selective as they would be if they were hiring at any other time of the year. Interviews are shortened and unless something glaring stands out on an application it is submitted to Human Resources with a request to hire.
  • The focus is on getting a candidate into “the system”. They can be included in orientation and trained in time to fill the holes in the schedule. This is prime time when other concerns fall by the wayside.
  • People are hired who may not truly have the competency to do the job they are hired for. Forget potential theft issues, these workers through no fault of their own may just not be good at their job. A new cashier may not know how to count back change. They may not understand when a short-change artist is trying to con them. They may not get enough training to understand the importance of looking at everything that comes through the lane. Each of these issues causes significant cash and or merchandise shortage to the store.
  • Pre-employment screening may not be done. Background information that might have uncovered a checkered past is never discovered because there wasn’t enough time to conduct a check and get the training started. Was a convicted felon just hired? Perhaps it was just a simple petty larceny charge on their record. It could be a conviction for assault was not reported on the application and the employer won’t know because there was no pre-employment screening.
  • Hiring on the fly may result in bringing in someone who has been fired for poor performance or insubordination and that attitude may carry into the new workplace.

The list can go on but the bottom line is that not making staffing plans for the busy season can impact more than you might think.

What is the solution? You have to get the store staffed and you will be competing against every other retailer for limited resources. Plan a stepped process for adding new team members to your store.

  • First, make a commitment that EVERY new hire will undergo a pre-employment screening NO EXCEPTIONS! Loss Prevention Systems Inc. can conduct thorough background checks that will minimize your chances of bringing in a poor candidate.
  • Determine how many new employees you need and add at least 5 to 10 to that number to account for attrition.
  • Establish where you will post your job ads and what date you will begin interviews. Build a realistic timetable that includes the length of interviews, length of time for conducting the background check and length of time to complete hiring paperwork and orientations and training.
  • Set a Firm “Do Not Hire After This Date” date. Make it firm and don’t allow other managers to make exceptions.
  • Allow at least one full week from the time the last person is expected to be hired and processed to get properly trained. Failing to do so sets the new employee up for failure.

Start early enough to make your plan achievable. Starting too early and making a hiring offer then making people wait to start working will cause those new workers to quit. They are working for a paycheck. Starting too late and you will struggle to find people let alone people you want to have working for you.

     Santa may not have staffing issues, his team works all year long. You have real personnel concerns and have to hire more for the holidays. Plan ahead and make sure you are taking advantage of available workers don’t allow workers to take advantage of you.

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The Best Gift Boxes and Wraps

October 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment

When we think of gift boxes and wraps during this time of the year we would probably think of robe boxes, shirt boxes or jewelry boxes. Wraps would bring to mind those colorful papers and foils that we use to hide the boxes and try to camouflage the gifts inside. Then there are the ribbons that tie everything together and make the packages beautiful. The whole purpose is to protect the items we have purchased from prying eyes and snoops.

     Retailers have to protect their merchandise against more than just prying eyes, nosey relatives, and curious kids. Store owners have to think about theft issues that will be impacting them during the holidays. It is an unfortunate fact of life that during this time of the year criminal activity, especially shoplifting rises significantly. The harm that is inflicted by these criminals is more than simply the loss of a piece or two of merchandise. The business owners, store employees, and customers are all impacted by the actions of those who enter a store and steal from it.

     The obvious effect theft has on the business owner is that a stolen piece of merchandise eats into the profit margin of the store. We use to estimate in Loss Prevention that for a big box retailer it required selling approximately 10 units of something to make up for the loss of one unit of the product. The small or medium retail owner is trying to be careful in how much to markup goods in order to stay competitive with the national chain stores. Consequently, these owners may have to sell a bit more to make up for a stolen item.

     Employees are impacted by shoplifters because it could mean a storekeeper may not be able to hire an additional worker for the holidays, never mind for an entire year. Merchandise shortage may mean seasonal hires have to be let go a little earlier than a business owner truly wanted to release them. Shoplifting also means that shortage has to be considered when a store owner is deciding on employee pay. Knowing that theft is going to happen and it will hurt profits, a business owner has to keep expenses lower and one of the biggest expense areas to a store is payroll.

     Customers are affected by thieves because many of the store markups are a direct result of shoplifter activity. Customers don’t want to pay more than they have to for an item and so they may take their business to a big box competitor or to online shopping if prices increase. Mom and Pop shop owners can’t afford to mark-up goods too much or they risk losing business. Not marking up to make up for losses means Mom and Pop stores have to sell more to customers. Customers they are already fighting to keep. To top it off, the shoplifters take merchandise that may have been available to a paying customer to purchase. The customer can’t buy what isn’t there and a vicious cycle ensues.

     In order to combat shoplifting and larceny at all times of the year, the small retail owner should be using retail anti-theft devices.  This is where the best boxes and wraps come into play and they aren’t the type we use for our gifts. The ones store owners should be using are those that will keep thieves and criminals from stealing in the first place. Small items can be protected in Alpha Keeper boxes while larger items are securely surrounded in Spider Wrap. Both devices allow owners to leave merchandise in the open and accessible to customers who can then carry items in the store or to a register. By the same token, the anti-theft devices keep criminals from being able to get access to merchandise and prevent them from getting products out of the store without causing alarm activations.

     Business owners, you don’t need to experience empty shelves and cash drawers on the account of theft. Don’t allow crooks to victimize you, your employees and your customers. Box and wrap your products with retail anti-theft devices so your shoppers can have the merchandise they want at affordable prices. Your customers can enjoy more green in their pockets and you will see more green in your registers.

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Dash Through The Snow But Not After Shoplifters

October 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment

“Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh…” OH BOY, this is one of my favorite times of the year! Christmas time and the other holidays just make it special for me. The television specials, the music, the foods and treats and the decorations all combine to just give a warm feeling. I even feel like people tend to be friendlier and more helpful to each other. Then there is the shopping to do, going out to window shop or find that perfect gift for someone(s) special in our lives. Living in the South we don’t often get to dash through the snow but when you live up in the northern states you can add the winter frolicking to your holidays. Even if we haven’t experienced it almost all of us have seen pictures or movies with reindeer dashing through the snow pulling Santa’s sleigh. There’s something about it that evokes a bit of childhood magic.

While dashing may be magical and exciting when it comes to playing in a winter wonderland it isn’t good when the dashing involves the pursuit of shoplifters. The holidays may bring out the best in most of us but somehow it brings out other things too, like thieves and criminals. The holidays are a notorious time of the year for the increases in shoplifting. Professional shoplifters often use the crowds in stores to hide their activity. Casual shoplifters or spontaneous shoplifters come in and steal to get a thrill or because they want to impress their friends. It may be greed that drives these people because they want something they can’t afford. Whatever the reasons shoplifters make up for their crime the fact is they are still stealing and it makes no difference if they are professionals or amateurs. It is important for store managers and employees to try to deter the theft before it takes place. The use of retail anti-theft devices like a Checkpoint Security System and promoting excellent customer service are two ways to accomplish this.

When that deterrence fails however the objective becomes one of trying to get a shoplifter to dump the merchandise before they get to an exit door. Loss Prevention professionals have some tricks they may try to employ, pulling out radios, talking about the merchandise that is concealed, making it apparent they are following the person towards the door. The one thing they can’t (or shouldn’t) do is make an accusation they cannot support. It also may depend on the laws of a state about whether concealment alone and walking past cash registers is enough to constitute shoplifting. In any situation, care has to be taken on how much store personnel does to try to get a shoplifter to dump merchandise.

     When all of these steps fail and a shoplifter refuses to drop merchandise they have concealed there is a good chance they will dash out the door and run to get away. It is a natural reflex for the store employee to have the urge to chase after the criminal. Having been in this situation more times than I can count as a Loss Prevention Associate and Manager, I know the feeling. It takes restraint and self-control not to follow the perpetrator when they run. Associates must understand that chasing can lead to someone being injured and that can turn into a lawsuit. A dash to catch a shoplifter can take an employee into a dangerous situation where they may end up facing a weapon. A shoplifter who runs has little or no regard for others and may trample someone, push them down or worse, get to their car and run into someone. Some people have gone so far to try to grab a shoplifter from their car and have wound up getting dragged by the vehicle. Believe me when I tell you there is nothing your store sells that is worth anyone getting hurt over.

     Be smart and safe this holiday season. Use retail anti-theft devices on the merchandise you sell. Make customer service training a priority as you are training seasonal and even older staff members. Let them know how their service makes a positive impact on sales and prevents theft. Finally, make a point of emphasizing the dangers involved in dashing after a criminal. The only running to be done by employees is the running of cash registers as your cashiers are ringing up holiday sales. 

     

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Preventing Shoplifting In Your Store

October 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), there are more than 28 million small businesses in the United States and they account for more than 99% of businesses in the country.  Small businesses employ close to 57 million people in the United States alone and are a driving force in the progress of the US economy.  The good news for an entrepreneur that wants to start a business is that they are not alone, but if you are a small business in the retail industry, the problems you will encounter do not come as paperwork filings or taxes paid.  Shoplifting and employee theft are two of the major causes small retail shops face financial distress during their business enterprise.  It is an unfortunate problem, but the problem is there and the small business owner has to find solutions to the specific problems in their store.

For more about this and other types of stories, follow the links below.

Retailers ‘tagging’ meat to prevent shoplifting

First it was clothes‚ then electronic goods and baby formula. Now it is meat.

Retailers waging a battle against grocery store shoplifting are adopting unorthodox crime prevention measures by placing electronic security tags on expensive cuts of meat.

The food tags work in the same way as on items such as clothes. Exit the shop without paying for the chunk of steak and an alarm goes off.

Sowetan observed a packer gingerly placing the strange tags on meat this week at one retail chain store west of Johannesburg.

The drastic measure is apparently a direct response to a rise in shoplifting of unconventional goods like meat in tough economic times. In the past‚ tagging was reserved for goods like CDs.

Last week Sowetan reported that a Kliptown policewoman was caught shoplifting meat worth R620 at a Pick n Pay store in Lenasia. She has been released on R500 bail.

Retailers offered top five tips to stop shoplifters

More than 360,000 shoplifting offences were reported in the UK in 2016-17 financial year, according new research.

The data from online marketplace OnBuy.com revealed that the Metropolitan Police had the highest number of shoplifting offences reported in the 12 month period at 47,580 – the equivalent of 130 incidents a day. The Met was closely followed by West Midlands Police, who had 19,741 incidences of shoplifting reported, followed by Greater Manchester Police with 18,002 shoplifting offences.

Meanwhile, City of London Police had the lowest number of shoplifting cases, with only 729 reported – the equivalent of two occurrences every day.

Cas Paton, managing director of OnBuy.com, said: “Shoplifting is more prevalent than we would like to think. Considering the amount of time and energy shops put into running various aspects of their operation daily, shoplifting is really an unfortunate occurrence for them.

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.

 

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Who Is Your Shoplifter and What Do They steal?

October 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment

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.

The retail industry loses billions of dollars due to employee theft and shoplifting.  It is more difficult when former employees that were in charge of the loss prevention department or have worked there are arrested because of a shoplifting incident they are committing. This month a shoplifter; a corrections officer and former Walmart employee has been charged with 5 counts of shoplifting that happened at the Walmart he used to work for. What is the solution to this problem? How can the retail industry prepare itself for the many shoplifting incidents that occur every day at their stores?

Many industries experts agree that training is the logical solution. Training, constant vigilance, and state of the art technology that can help prevent, deter and even stop shoplifting while is happening.

For more news about shoplifting, follow the links below.

Walmart nabs former employee for shoplifting — in his corrections officer uniform

A onetime Walmart loss prevention officer was arrested Friday for shoplifting from his former employer.

George Smalling, 38, of Pasco, was booked in the Franklin County jail on five counts of shoplifting in what the Pasco Police Department described as an “interesting” case.

According to the police department, Smalling worked at the Pasco Walmart pursuing shoplifters until he left in 2015 to become a corrections officer with the Washington Department of Corrections prison system.

This summer, a current loss prevention officer was investigating a series of shoplifts. In connection with the investigation, the store determined that a particular man came in at least 45 times during that period. The suspect would use the self-checkout lane. He would scan one item but pass others over the reader. He would pay for the scanned item and then leave.

Shoplifter attempts to steal laundry detergent. Does not get away clean.

Police are asking for your help to find a shoplifter. If you have information about this crime, don’t try to take action on your own. Anonymous tips, including photos and videos, can be submitted by texting LEXPD plus the tip to CRIMES (274637). Information can also be sent anonymously through Bluegrass Crime Stoppers at 859-253-2020 or Bluegrasscrimestoppers.com.

Crime of the Week

This week’s Crime of the Week involves a shoplifter who struck the Kroger store on Bryan Station Road.

He tried to leave Walmart with steaks in his pants, police say

A 25-year-old man was arrested Monday in connection with shoplifting after police say he hid steaks in his pants and left without paying at a Myrtle Beach grocery store, according to a police report.

Payton Christian Abbott, 25, was cited in connection with shoplifting, online jail records show.

Myrtle Beach officers were called about 11:30 a.m. to the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 3915 N. Kings Hwy. in regards to an alleged shoplifting incident.

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Employee Theft And The Hiring Process

September 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Are you hiring someone who has the tendency to steal from their employer?  Hiring new employees for the season and for permanent positions is a difficult task in and of itself. But do you consider employee theft in the hiring process?

With little additional effort, you can screen out candidates that are prone to, or even have an ambivalent attitude towards theft from your company. The folks that are ambivalent tend to be the ones that will look the other way while others, both internal and external, steal from you and will not tell you that they suspect or see theft occurring. The normal excuse they give themselves and you, if confronted after the fact, is “I did not want to get involved” or “I am not a rat”. Both of these are copouts. But what you need to consider is that you, the owner or manager have probably set the foundation for this attitude.

To keep employees from stealing from you, you must start at the very first step in the employment process. When someone applies for a job, they need to understand that you will check their criminal background. You should have a separate background check release document from your company’s application. That sets the beginning of theft prevention.

During the interview process are you asking questions about employee theft and the candidate’s attitude towards it? If not, you are missing out on a very simple step that will reveal much more than you expected. These are questions that you can and should be asking. Loss Prevention Systems offers to our customers live, online training that is FREE of charge about this very subject. The seminar is titled “Pre-employment hiring: What they don’t tell you will HURT you”. This training teaches you and your staff how to ask better questions regarding loss prevention areas. Do you want to find out more about not only the candidate’s involvement in and attitude about employee theft but also what they have stolen from previous employers and their use of illegal drugs? This session will teach you those techniques.

Next, when you make the offer of employment and conduct their orientation, are you explaining your policy and procedures regarding theft? Do you let them know that it is THEIR obligation to bring any suspicion or actual theft to your attention immediately? It is a job requirement. They are getting paid by you for a job you hired them for. This includes loyalty to you and the company. But if you do not discuss it, how can you expect them to do what you ask?

Do you have a theft policy document or handbook that they must read and then they sign an acknowledgment receipt that is placed in their HR file? Again, if you are a customer of Loss Prevention Systems, we will provide you with a draft LP handbook that you can modify to fit your company. It lets the new employee know that the only thing they may take from the company is the air in their lungs. It also helps them to understand what they are to do for suspected or witnessed theft. If you are a Retailer, it also covers shoplifting.

Your next step is to reinforce this message with all employees at company meetings. This can be as simple as asking questions. Ask for a show of hands to a question like “Have you ever worked at a company where someone was caught stealing?” follow up with “how did that make you feel?’ or “How would you feel if you found out that a co-worker was stealing from the company?”. Most of the time employees respond with a feeling of betrayal, disbelief, shock, anger… You should then expand on those feelings with a discussion. Instead of you “preaching”, let them express their thoughts. You should simply guide the conversation. Ask employees what they think should happen to someone who was caught stealing from the company. You are likely to hear harsh terms like jail, arrest, fired, shot at sunrise and more. But just as important, observe the employees that take a disinterested, joking or mild approach. If they themselves are stealing, they are more likely to use softer words such as “get in trouble, lose their jobs, disciplined…” That does not mean that everyone who reacts in a more mild fashion is stealing. That may simply be their personality or they are uncomfortable talking about conflict type situations. But this does give you more insight into their thinking. Employees that mock or make fun of the conversation should, in my experience, be watched closely.

This process shows everyone that you are not afraid to discuss the topic and are prone to take action if it does occur. It also shows employees that have or will think about stealing from you that other employees will not tolerate their actions.

Start this process now! Do not wait. You want a good, profitable selling season. Contact us if you have questions or need assistance.

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The Scary Truth About Not Preparing For Holiday Foot Traffic

September 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

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.

Can stores prepare for every contingency? Quite honestly, no but that is not to say there should not be a significant amount of time spent planning for holidays and holiday foot traffic. The hard part is knowing what you should plan for and have a contingency plan if something “breaks” which will most certainly happen. What kind of things can you prepare for?

  • Are you hoping for increased foot traffic or planning for it? Hoping is wishful thinking something will magically occur. Small and medium-size retailers have to make good things happen. Big Box retailers are planning months in advance for what their “Doorbuster” items will be for Black Friday. They do bulk purchases of merchandise that will be one-time sellers. LCD televisions are one of the big promos I see each year. These are often not top of the line name brands and they are bargain priced to bring in foot traffic. Get people in the door and hit them with other sale items and promotions. The nasty surprise with this type of gimmick? What do you tell your customers when you run out? Were you fair in how you advertised quantities would be limited, no holds would be permitted, first come/first serve and no rain checks or substitutions will be given out? Be clear in your advertising and let customers who are waiting for that item know how many there really are. You may give out a ticket to each person in line who is waiting for that “Doorbuster” so no one else feels “duped”. You can save a lot of headaches for yourself.
  • Test your equipment. Have a professional come in and test your point of sale registers, your computers, and even your electronic article surveillance pedestals and deactivation pads. Do you normally run two registers during the year? Consider having a third for an increase in customers or as backup if one of your two breaks.
  • Are you intending to run your holiday season with the same number of employees you have all year? That can be a scary decision. If you are planning out your sales and promotions you will see more customers. Failing to have enough staff means you are not giving the level of customer service you need to and people will be put-off with poor assistance, abandon merchandise and leave the store. Not adding staff also means you will run your full-time crew ragged and they may quit. Holiday seasons can be stressful enough without feeling like you’re stretched too thin by your boss.
  • Finally, consider promotions for each of the major holidays coming up in the final quarter of the year. Candy giveaways for those who celebrate Halloween, a drawing for a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, or a raffle promotion to get people into your building for Christmas shopping, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

Holiday shoppers can make your financial year but you must be prepared. Careful planning will pay off in the end. Don’t be scared to step outside your comfort zone to reach new customers and drive profitable year-end sales. 

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The Importance Of Expressing Your Thanks For The Staff You Have

September 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

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?

In an article in forbes.com titled, “66% Of Employees Would Quit if They Feel Unappreciated”, by Victor Lipman, April 15, 2017, the author references, “…a study from Office Team examining the impact of appreciation, or lack thereof, in the workplace.” Quoting the study Mr. Lipman points out two startling findings:

  • 66% of employees say they would “likely leave their job of (sic) they didn’t feel appreciated.”
  • Among millennials, the number of employees who’d leave if unappreciated jumps to 76%.

The author states, “So what does all this mean? I’d call it a short message with a powerful takeaway: Appreciation matters.”I agree with the author’s sentiments. People need to feel like their efforts are appreciated by the supervisors/managers.

What are some of the ways managers can express their appreciation towards their employees? Below are some ideas that can be easy and meaningful:

  • Greet your employees when they arrive to work and say goodbye when they leave. I don’t mean you should say, “Glad you’re here, it’s been a crazy day” or “Oh, you made it on time, what a pleasant surprise!” Be genuine, say hello, hi or it’s good to see you when they come in and have a good afternoon or a great weekend when they leave.
  • Some large retailers have recognition cards they hand out to employees for performance and then have a monthly drawing for a gift card or monetary prize. It may not be practical for a smaller retailer but you can give a Thank-You card out from time to time
  • I work for a business where my superiors have expressed their appreciation with a company travel coffee mug, candy, greeting cards and a gift card at various times on top of emails expressing appreciation for my contributions. All of these make my efforts feel like they are worth the effort. Sometimes it’s the little things that mean a lot.
  • Appreciation may be demonstrated with the assignment of a special project or task that shows trust or gives more responsibility. With that assignment, there must be a verbal acknowledgment by the manager of how the employee’s work performance has merited the responsibility. It would be appropriate to also give some additional incentive if the assignment would merit it.

Aside from the possibility of employees quitting due to feeling unappreciated, it is also possible their performance is tied to how appreciated they feel working for you. According to an article in apa.org (American Psychological Association) from March 8, 2013, titled, “APA Survey Finds Feeling Valued at Work Linked to Well-Being and Performance”; “Almost all employees (93 percent) who reported feeling valued said they are motivated to do their best work and 88 percent reported feeling engaged.”  Clearly, it is in your best interest to find ways to express appreciation to your employees for the work they do for your business. Happy employees will want to make the company they work for successful and that means YOU will be successful.

This holiday season as you consider all the things you are thankful for, don’t forget those who make your business the success it is. Express your thanks and find ways to recognize them, now and all throughout the year. You won’t regret it.

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