Perpetual Inventory

Is Racial Profiling Benefiting Your Store?

May 6, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention men, women, and juveniles shoplift equally. The gender, nor race is more prominent than the other, yet many minorities are targeted and harassed when shopping at a retail store because of their race. Shoplifting is a crime, and the retail industry loses billions a dollars yearly due to shoplifting and employee theft, but targeting minorities because of their race is a financial detriment to many retail stores.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Thieves raising a glass to LCBO policy

TORONTO – Thieves walk into an LCBO, grab a shopping bag and fill it.

Often the bottles are in the $40 to $80 range — Bacardi, Smirnoff, Grey Goose and other popular brands — and they’re swiped daily by the dozens.

Shoplifters confidently make their way to the exit, not even approaching the check-out.

Within seconds, they’ve made their getaway.

And they know LCBO employees can’t do anything to stop them.

According to the LCBO’s theft policy, workers shall not attempt to detain or arrest thieves. They’re suppose to alert police or security personnel.

“It’s very clear they know there’s a loophole,” said a Toronto-area LCBO employee, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity.

Sobeys ordered to pay $21,000 in racial profiling case of Halifax-area woman

The human rights board decided in Andrella David’s favour this fall, and announced a remedy Friday.

A Halifax-area woman who was racially profiled while shopping at a Sobeys store will receive more than $21,000 from the company.

Marion Hill, chair of the independent human rights board of inquiry into Andrella David’s case against Sobeys Group Inc., issued a decision on remedy late Thursday.

“Consumer racial profiling is a significant issue in Nova Scotia most often targeting African Nova Scotians and members of the First Nations communities,” Christine Hanson, director of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission said in a release Friday.

“I’m pleased to see that Ms. David’s experience has brought awareness to the issue, and the commission looks forward to working with retailers in the coming months to help prevent similar occurrences.”

Last October, Hill concluded in her original decision that David of Upper Hammonds Plains had been discriminated against on the basis on her African Nova Scotian race and/or perception of income, when an assistant manager at the Sobeys accused her of shoplifting multiple times in 2009 and said they had her on surveillance tape.

8 nabbed after cops intercept multi-state credit card fraud rings

Gloucester Township Police were conducting proactive retail patrol on three separate incidents leading to the arrest of eight people and the recovery of a stolen handgun.Authorities said they were able to interrupt two multi-state credit card rings and prevent thousands of dollars in retail theft and fraud following three separate investigations.

Police were conducting surveillance at the Gloucester Premium Outlets April 26 as a result of ongoing retail theft.

While investigating, police saw four males attempting to use multiple credit and gift cards to purchase high-end merchandise.

Several transactions were denied and after approaching the men, one tried to hide the credit and gift cards in mulch landscaping outside of the store, according to police.

The four men were later found in possession of more than $6,000 worth of merchandise that police believe was fraudulently purchased in different stores.

Detectives seized multiple stolen credit and gift cards, a laptop and encrypted USB drive that was used to load stolen credit card account numbers onto the cards.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

A RETAILER’S WORST FEAR-STORE ROBBERY

April 28, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It was 4:30am on a Tuesday morning. My company cell phone pierced through the quiet halls of my house. At first, I didn’t get out of bed; perhaps it was a wrong number. Silence. As I doze back off, I hear the familiar tone once again. Who could be calling me and for what reason at this hour? I let it ring. I hear the chirp of the voicemail. Before I can muster the energy to get out of bed, I hear my personal phone ringing. This one is next to me on the night stand. Something is wrong, I immediately think to myself. When I reach for my phone in the middle of the dark room, eyes still blurry, I see the caller ID. It’s a sheriff’s deputy that I’m good friends with. My heart is in my throat as I answer. “You’re morning crew was just robbed at gunpoint. Get to the store now.”

I don’t think I even gave my friend a response before leaping out of bed. I quickly get dressed and race down stairs. Those two missed phones calls were from a panicked and frantic store manager. The other from the general manager. I jump in the car and speed across town; waking the VP of Loss Prevention, the regional VP and the media relations department. All with the news that no LP manager wants to say. “Our team was just robbed. I have no info on the wellbeing of our employees. I’ll update you as soon as I gather info.”

I get to the store and see close to a dozen police units. There’s crime scene tape and the local new stations are already setting up shop. I rush to the front door and see that it’s been shattered. Later, I find that the robber fired two shots from a .45… one round came within inches of a stocker, into the door, gaining entry into the store. At this point, I don’t care about the damage, I don’t care about the money. I head straight to the staging area and am suddenly taken into an embrace by the morning manager; someone I’ve worked alongside for 10 years. She’s shaken up, but OK. So is the rest of the team. I finally have good news. I send a quick text to my boss that all employees are safe; no injuries. We lost $9k and have a broken door. All replaceable.

It was no accident that our team made it out of this ordeal safely.

Every single week, our company’s robbery policy and procedure is covered with our teams. While a robbery can happen at any time of the day or night, they are most likely going to occur early in the morning, or late at night. Training your team to react to this scenario greatly increases your chance of getting out unharmed. So we train, constantly on three very important points.

Comply – there is no need to argue with a guy with a gun. Everything in the store can be replaced. The company brings in several billions of dollars each year; the amount of cash that can physically be taken is nothing compared to your safety.
Give them whatever they want — if they want cash, give them cash. If they want the entire electronics department, let em’ have it. If they want you to open each cash register for the change, then that’s what we’re going to do in order to get them out. Do not argue, do not deny. Your job is to get them out of the store as quickly as possible and without incident. Let our cameras and law enforcement partners’ worry about trying to identify them.
Never, under any circumstance, contact the police while there is an active robbery – We never want a robbery to turn into a hostage situation. If the police show up quickly, the robbers could panic and hold the team hostage. There is also the possibility of a shoot-out with police and the potential for injury to the team. This point cannot be stressed enough. Wait until you are positive that the robber has fled the scene before making that call; because once you do, you’re going to have every free unit across the city rushing to your doors.

While I hope to never have to see one of my teams go through an ordeal such as this again, I know that there will always exist the remote possibility of it happening again; whether it’s to one of my stores, or to one of yours. If you’ve never thought about implementing a robbery policy/procedure before, I would highly suggest doing so now. The better you plan for such an act, the better your chances of coming through without injury. Remember, money and merchandise can be replaced; a team member cannot.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Periodic inventory, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS BENEFITS TO A LOSS PREVENTION PROGRAM

February 8, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Over the past five years or so, social media platforms have exploded. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram are essentially a one stop shop for all your news, entertainment and whatever your Aunt Dolly is doing today… Like most Americans, I visit these websites frequently throughout the day (although, I am weaning myself off this addiction slowly, but surely). Businesses have also been quick to jump on the bandwagon and have found that direct to consumer marketing, especially the free kind of marketing, can really help a small business soar. With so many people, places and things interconnected, you can see how the Loss Prevention Industry uses these platforms to not only aid in investigations, but to help track down fencing operations, retail ORC groups and even dishonest employees.

About a month or so ago, I was scrolling through a Facebook “online garage sale group” in my area. A few scrolls down, I noticed a guy was selling a store merchandise credit from one of my stores. I looked up the name in our internal system for any hits and sure enough, it was an employee at one of my stores. A little investigating showed that he had conducted a return of a high end baseball bat, but according to our sales records, the store he worked in had not sold that particular sku. Furthermore, inventory data showed that store to be missing one unit. A little more leg work, and I was able to determine that the employee had altered the price on a high end bat, purchasing it for only a few dollars. He returned the bat for full value at another store and posted the credit on Facebook to sell. From our research, he had done this about a dozen or so times with various merchandise. I was able to make a pretty substantial case from a lead generated from social media.

Take things a little further. Most of you reading this are small business owners. Chances are, you don’t have some large Loss Prevention department; heck, your LP department might be the 16 cameras you have set up in your store. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; in fact, without the hassle of a large company’s legal department, you have more freedom with those CCTV images of a thief than I do. Most police departments and sheriff’s offices around the country have also been accepting of a social media presence. From the community outreach and the ability to hear concerns directly from citizens, it’s a great way for law enforcement to take a big step into the future. This also gives those agencies the ability to share BOLOs with an enormous amount of people.

Not two weeks ago, a local sheriff’s office shared some CCTV images from a clothing boutique store that showed a female shoplifter, who made away with several hundred dollars in clothing. The boutique had a very good camera system and shared those images from their Facebook page to the Sheriff’s Office page, who in turn shared it with their followers. Literally, within 30 minutes, the comment section was full of tips, eventually leading to the shoplifter’s identity. Heck, some people even began tagging this woman in her own wanted poster. Classic. Without this platform, this crime may have gone unsolved, and that business would have taken a hit out of their own pockets.

While social media can boost sales and drive traffic into your store, it can only be a great tool to reduce shrink. The ability to quickly search through your employee’s friends, or search in wanted ads for particular items and the ability to share CCTV images quickly and with great success, makes social media almost a necessity of today’s small business’s plan to combat shrink and increase profitability.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, employee background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Workshop, Perpetual Inventory, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Using Social Media To Capture a Shoplifter

January 27, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

law-3 Using Facebook, their own websites and other social media outlets, many retailers have for years posted pictures of shoplifters on line in hopes of catching the shoplifter. Posting images and descriptions of suspected shoplifters can be helpful in apprehending them, but it can also be legally harmful to you and to the business if you don’t know the laws in your state regarding shoplifting laws, and you post the wrong images and descriptions of the suspected shoplifter. If your store has an LP program or department, you need to check with them before any pictures are posted on social media. And do you have insurance that will cover you in a potential law suit? Are the shoplifters juveniles? From the time you apprehend a shoplifter till the time you charge them with shoplifting, there are rules you must follow. Check the laws in your state, a lawyer, or the legal department in your store before posting any images on line.

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

Local business uses Facebook to catch shoplifting suspect

A small business in Olive Branch is fighting back against shoplifters by using social media.

If the Pink Coconut Boutique catches you stealing, they will post you picture on Facebook. It’s a tactic they’ve always used, and it seems to be working well.

Store manager Debbie Ham recently posted a picture of an alleged shoplifter on the businesses page. She called for the 1.1 million Facebook followers to help identify the suspect.

And in less than 24 hours, 25-year-old Christian Tatum was identified.

“The fans were very upset (because) we do keep our prices down at the Pink Coconut,” Ham told FOX13.

This is not the first time the store has done it. They use the practice to help keep prices low.

Police would not comment on the matter. They only said it was the Facebook post that led to Tatum being identified.

“We do have 30 cameras in our store that we are very quick (to use). If there is an incident, we take our camera and review our video and burn a CD and we also post it to social media,” Ham said.

With millions of Facebook fans, the post led the Pink Coconut getting swamped with people reporting the accused criminal.

Shoplifting Laws by State

Alabama Shoplifting Laws

Detention and arrest of person suspected of larceny of goods held for sale.

(a) A peace officer, a merchant or a merchant’s employee who has probable cause for believing that goods held for sale by the merchant have been unlawfully taken by a person and that he can recover them by taking the person into custody may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery, take the person into custody and detain him in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. Such taking into custody and detention by a peace officer, merchant or merchant’s employee shall not render such police officer, merchant or merchant’s employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment or unlawful detention.

(b) Any peace officer may arrest without warrant any person he has probable cause for believing has committed larceny in retail or wholesale establishments.

Kohl’s shoplifters identified after public’s response to released photos

D’IBERVILLE — A surveillance picture released to the media has helped lead to the identity of two women accused of shoplifting and assaulting a Kohl’s employee, police said.

Police obtained arrest warrants for Michelle Quin and Tykeshia Barnes, both 18, and released their names Monday.

Deputy Police Chief Clay Jones said a third woman who appeared in the surveillance picture was not arrested.

Quin and Barnes each face charges of shoplifting and simple assault.

Police said the store on Promenade Parkway had reported the women stole merchandise Jan. 8 and said two of the them assaulted a loss-prevention officer who tried to get them to return inside the store.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Let’s Make 2016 a More Profitable Year

January 18, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Let’s make 2016 a more profitable year by stopping losses before they occur. Think of it, as a retailer you run your operation, purchase and then sell the products you offer and try to hold your expenses down. But when you have employees that cause inventory theft, cash theft or any other loss it comes right off your bottom line and out of your pocket. The key is to keep theft from occurring before it happens!

Do you really know who is working for you? It is inexpensive and easy to find out. You should screen EVERY person you hire. Even after 20 years of running pre-employment background checks on people for our clients we are still amazed and what we see. It is not unusual to see drunk driving, theft, assault, shoplifting and even some very violent criminal records. Do you really want people like that working for you? That is like pointing a gun at yourself and hoping it is not loaded. People who are not responsible in life are not going to become magically better because they work for you.

Most states allow a statewide criminal records check. If not then we look in the counties they have lived in.

Another check that should be run is a credit history. This can be done on people that will be handling your cash and other assets. My wife was once the Branch Manager for a large chain of banks. The banks policy was to look at the credit history of the people that they were considering for employment. Their thought process was “If you cannot handle your own money why would we want you to handle the banks or the customers?”

Another check should be to verify that they are not on a sex offender list. Imagine this. You hire someone. They sexually assault a customer or another employee. Even if it is simply alleged and then investigation shows they are on a list. Your liability just skyrocketed.

In the past we could simply say we did not know that they were a sexual predator, criminal, thief…. But that is not the case anymore. The courts have leaned towards the position that it is easy and inexpensive to screen someone so if you do not you may be left in a terrible position both criminally and civilly.

So attack loss in 2016 up front. Get your employees background checked, screen any new employees and then follow up with an annual check. It may just make your year more profitable and one with less headaches.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

HOW TO SPOT A SHOPLIFTER

December 11, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

What does a shoplifter look like? How do you know if someone is going to steal from you? I get asked these questions all the time by store associates and mangers. The real answer is, a shoplifter doesn’t fit any specific demographic. There is no common appearance to a thief. I’ve personally apprehended 12 year old kids, soccer moms, grandmothers, lawyers, doctors, truck drivers, college professors in addition to the professional thieves. There are a few tips to look out for that you should share with your teams.

Looking around/up for associates and/or cameras

Most people shop by looking at the product in front of them. I always get suspicious when I see someone looking everywhere but in front of them. Subjects that are constantly looking up (for cameras) are pretty easy to spot; when’s the last time you looked at the ceiling at the supermarket? These people usually catch my attention rather quickly.

Grabbing items without regard to size, color or size

If I’m shopping for a pair of pants, I am looking for a specific style and size. Thieves who are looking to steal to resell usually will just take whatever they can get their hands on. If you see someone walk by a display of clothing and just start randomly selecting product, they may be planning on stealing that product from you.

Clearing pegs/shelves

If I’m buying *electronic item x*, chances are, I’m only going to buy one. If you notice someone clear an entire peg or shelf, especially if it’s a high risk product, which is another great indicator that their intentions may be less than honest.

Wearing unseasonal clothing

This one is my favorite. Every time I’ve seen someone wearing a coat in the summertime, I’ve ended up throwing them in jail for stealing from me. If it’s 90 degrees outside, someone wearing a thick coat should send up some major red flags.

Staging merchandise

Maybe you walk by a quiet corner of the store and see a subject place a few pairs of headphones on a back aisle. Perhaps they decided not to purchase them; or perhaps they’ve staged them to steal after they’re convinced that the area is clear. I’m always suspicious of buggies of product near fire exits. Often times, a thief will stage product prior to committing the theft. If you find product out of place, it’s best to simply return it to its home location

Removing/attempting to remove EAS devices

No brainer, right? If you walk by someone and they are really struggling to remove an EAS device, they probably don’t have intentions on buying the item. If you, or your team see this, the customer should immediately be given customer service. I usually ask if I can help them with the security device… it gets the point across that I am aware of their actions, without me actually having to say anything accusatory.

While not every shoplifter will demonstrate the same overt acts, if store personnel are attentive and engaging with all customers, these behaviors can be picked up on and properly relayed to store managers. Remember, there is no better anti-theft tool than a well-trained, attentive employee. By looking out for these subtle cues, your team can better protect your #1 financial investment, store inventory.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Spider Wrap, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

HOLIDAY SAFETY TIPS FOR YOU CUSTOMERS AND YOUR EMPLOYEES

December 11, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It seems like the months of November and December are just ripe for criminal activity in our stores. These are the months that we see a spike in not only internal and external, but other, more serious crimes like burglary, armed robberies, car theft, and purse snatchings. Over the last decade, I’ve put together some holiday safety tips for my stores and I’d like to also share them with you.

One of the most common crimes that occur in our parking lots during the holiday season are vehicle burglaries. Busy shoppers are running from store to store and packing their cars full of goodies. Valuables left in plain sight attract criminals like a moth to a flame. What’s worse is that with all the hustle and bustle, often times, shoppers inadvertently leave their car doors unlocked. This one is simple to solve. First, leave all valuables and gifts in your trunk, out of sight. Second, LOCK your doors. I once partnered with local law enforcement in a store I had significant issues in and printed up some small reminders. We gave these out to every customer during checkout all season long. The customer’s appreciated the tips and we saw a reduction in parking lot incidents.

Another common theft for criminals this time of year is stealing from your customers while they shop. A busy mom sets her purse, or cell phone on the top of her buggy. In a split-second, she turns around to wrangle the kids, or to grab a hot deal. When she turns back, her purse or phone is gone. I’ve seen this happen so many times, and each time it could simply be prevented. Don’t leave your personal belongings out of sight, ever. I make it a point when I’m walking my stores, or even when I’m out shopping, to educate people on how to best protect their belongings. The last thing someone needs is to have their purse full of their hard earned money stolen right before Christmas.

We can talk about customer safety all day long, but what about your teams? We all have an obligation to keep them safe as well. Our early morning and closing teams are usually the most vulnerable. Remember that there is safety in numbers. When closing, it’s best that the entire team leave at once, with the manager, as opposed to allowing them to leave individually. This will help reduce the risk of personal crimes late at night, in addition to an after-hours robbery. The same should go with your opening team. Once the manager arrives, all employees should then get out of their vehicles, instead of waiting outside the doors. Closing and opening managers should also make it a point to drive around the perimeter of the store to look for signs of forced entry and any suspicious persons and/or activity.

Armed robbery. I dread this time of year because for my stores, every robbery we’ve ever had occurred during this time of the year. We’ve had a handful of robberies during business hours and about the same number after-hours. While it’s very hard to prevent a robbery, there are a few steps you can train your team to do in order to get out alive and unharmed. Thankfully, we’ve never had an injury as our teams followed the steps below each time. I’ll close out my holiday safety tips with these quick tips on how to stay safe during a robbery.

Stay calm.
Comply with all demands
Give them whatever they want, as quickly as possible
Get them out of the store as quickly as possible
Do not call the police with the gunman still in the store. If police arrive quickly, there could be a shoot-out, or a potential hostage situation
Try to remember as much descriptive information as possible (hair color, race, eye color, tattoos)
Do not touch anything after a robbery. You don’t want to contaminate the crime scene, as police may be able to obtain DNA or fingerprints from the safe, doors, or countertops

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, EAS Devices, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

How to Find a Good Security Consultant

December 11, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In today’s business climate it’s impossible for an owner or manager to have all the knowledge and experience needed to run a successful company. There’s too much new and changing information (i.e., technology, taxes, healthcare, government regulations, legal liability) for any one person to keep up, let alone have a working understanding.

That’s why even very small businesses are using temporary specialists more often than ever before. Outside experts fill the many gaps which any business has: lawyer, marketer, accountant, consultant, business analyst or web designer. Increasingly, one of the requirements for many companies is security consulting.

The growing need for risk assessments and security measures is an area of concern most companies have never had to face. It’s an area which requires expertise beyond what the average manager or owner can be expected to have. It just makes sense to outsource it.

But, how do you find a good security consultant? As any good security consultant will tell you — due diligence is the key. To get you started here are a few tasks to do and questions to answer for each candidate.

* Interview more than 1 person, 3 is usually enough to find the right one.

* Do they welcome or hinder your due diligence? A viable candidate will endorse your actions.

* Check their references and credentials. Also, depending on the project you have in mind, consider doing a background check.

* Evaluate and validate their work experience. Do they have the expertise they claim to have? There are many types of security issues. Does their knowledge fit your problems?

* Are they listening to you and your people? Are they offering solutions before they understand the problems? Are they trying to up-sell you?

* Do they demonstrate responsibility by following up when they say they will (i.e., bids, phone calls, appointments, texts, emails)? If they’re not responsible when they’re trying to sell you, it usually gets worse during the project.

* Is there a contract? There should be one that’s clear and easy to understand.

Security issues — workplace violence, cyber attacks and breaches, employee theft, shoplifting — are continuing to grow. It’s time to think about how they affect your business and take steps to address them. These are concerns that aren’t going to go away.

Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 100 articles published. She’s a business consultant and former psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, business and addiction. She’s a coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator. She has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, seminars and college classes.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

What To Do With Your Customer Feedback

December 2, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For retailers around the country and business in general, customer satisfaction is very important nowadays. The internet has made customer complains known worldwide. An uploaded video can go viral without the company having control over it, and the damage it can inflict upon the company can be horrendous. What can you do to assure that you take customer complains or suggestions seriously? What can you do with them once you have the data? For more about this topic follow the links below.

5 Cool Things You Can Do With Customer Feedback

Join us at Entrepreneur magazine’s Growth Conference, Dec. 15 in Long Beach, Calif. for a day of fresh ideas, business mentoring and networking. Register here for exclusive pricing, available only for a limited time.

Time was when getting feedback from a customer was a process so complex, it was akin to getting blood out of a stone. Thankfully, we don’t live in those times.

Today, not only is feedback nothing more than an email away, but customers actively come to you with suggestions and ideas. In fact, theylove sharing their insights with you because they understand that the more feedback they give, the better your product becomes.

However, most of this feedback just ends up cooling its heels in hard drives, which is, well, tragic, considering all the good it can do. A motivational tool, a wall of love. . . the ideas are limited only by your imagination. Here are our top five cool things that you can spin off with customer feedback, to wow your customers and your own employees.

Are Customer Reviews Promoting Your E-Business Like They Should?

Like it or not, customer reviews are a fact of life — and their impact on your business is huge. Columnist Jeremy Smith explains how you can use this to your advantage to promote your brand.

Unless you’re just back from an extended stay in some parallel universe, you know that customer reviews are valuable to e-commerce and increasing online conversions. Even negative reviews can be helpful to you, as the purveyor of a product or service.

The value of online customer reviews can hardly be overstated, though perhaps it approaches being over-documented.

4 Ways to Make Your Customer Satisfaction Surveys Actionable

To truly understand customer feedback, you need to ask an important question: “Why?” The only way to do that: follow up.

“Please tell us how we did.”

A question like that can roll the eyes of even your company’s biggest fan.

For years, customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys have been the bread-and-butter strategy for getting feedback.

But the big question is, are these surveys useful?

Many companies are frustrated by their surveys, in large part because they don’t know how to derive consistently actionable insights from the feedback they collect. Thousands of responses go into a database, emerging only as a graph that nobody wants to admit doesn’t drive any change.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Perpetual Inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Shoplifting Prevention and Your Inventory

November 18, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Keeping track of your inventory this holiday season is not an easy task. The time and work that this task takes is not easy for many managers to keep up with, nor something they relished doing. But maintaining an accurate inventory is not only good to keep up with customers likes and dislikes, but to keep a closer eye if shoplifting is happening in your store.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Business Security: 10 Tips to Prevent Shoplifting

In 2010, shoplifting accounted for 31% of retail inventory loss, according to a University of Florida retail security survey. This loss cost retailers about $10.94 billion during that year, according to a Washington Post article about the survey.

Items most commonly stolen include clothing, books, music, jewelry, watches, tires and car parts. “Everyone thinks about little Johnny stealing a pack of bubble gum, but there are also professional gangs that target stores and steal billions of dollars every year,” says Joseph LaRocca, an adviser for the National Retail Federation, in the article.

While security cameras can help identify suspects after a theft occurs, there’s plenty a retailer can do to prevent shoplifting from happening in the first place, according to the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the Specialty Retail Report.

Greet customers as soon as they come into the store. Addressing customers removes their anonymity. Shoplifters are known to avoid stores with attentive salespeople

5 Quick and Low-Tech Tips To Prevent Shoplifting in Your Retail Store

As a small business retailer, it’s not always easy to just throw money at problems like shoplifting and take advantage of all the technology that big box retailers may be privy to. Whether it’s cameras, door scanners, or facial-recognition software, sometimes their big-ticket cost just doesn’t fit with your small business security budget.

But when you recognize facts like shoplifting costing retailers upwards of $13 billion each year, it’s important to identify it as a problem that needs to be dealt with.

So, what’s a boutique owner to do? In this post, I’ll be looking at cost-effective and low-tech tactics that you can start implementing right away.

Let’s dive in.

1. Keep Your Store Organized and Products Well-Placed

How easy should it be to identify whether something has gone “missing” from your store? Empty space on your shelves should be enough of a visual cue to signal something has gone wrong.

However, if your store is messy, disorganized, or a maze to get through, it can be harder to notice that you’ve been “gotten” until it’s too late.

Security expert and founder of Crime Doctor, Chris McGoey recommends the following: “You want to keep all your merchandise “faced,” which means pulling your products to the edge of the shelf to create a solid wall of product. If someone sweeps the shelf, then it is easy to tell.”

Impact of retail theft: Costs customers, hurts business fuels drug trade

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

Walmart is one of many stores that are frequently targeted by shoplifters.

By Zach Glenn
[email protected]

Posted Nov. 14, 2015 at 8:15 AM

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

“From the law enforcement side (retail theft) can take up a lot of resources when it comes to investigations which can be problematic when there are other emergencies coming in and other cases that need worked on,” said Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Robert Hicks. “From a societal point, we all know when businesses lose money from theft that their prices increase which impacts all of us as consumers.”

Police calls

Last year, Walmart reported that around 1 percent of its total profits had been lost to shoplifting — for a total of $3 billion. Greg Foran, head of U.S. Walmart operations, said in a statement earlier this year that without theft, prices could be lower.

Other stores targeted by shoplifters sell items that are easy to resell, such as scrap metal from home improvement stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot and movies, music and video games from electronics stores like Best Buy.

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