It’s getting darker earlier: how to keep customers and employees safe

October 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Now that fall is upon us it is getting darker earlier. These hours of darkness can bring unique challenges for retail owners. Have you ever considered that it is your responsibility to help keep customers and employees remain safe while they are on your property? It may make sense that you are responsible for employee safety but you are also obliged to help keep customers safe as well. This includes your parking lot and the exterior areas around the building. How do you do this? What do you have to protect against? Good questions and hopefully we can provide you with answers to those questions and suggestions to make your business safer.

     What is it that you need to protect against as the daylight hours become shorter?

  • The potential for robberies increases in the hours of darkness.
  • Slip/trip/fall accidents in the parking lot can increase when it is dark as hazards are more difficult to see.
  • Car break-ins can increase.
  • Working at night can have an impact on your employees.
  • The risk of violence can increase.

Planning for operating a store during extended hours of darkness can help prevent problems that could arise.  According to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) power point presentation, “Recommendations for Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in Late-Night Retail Establishments” one of the panels states”; “Late-night retail businesses such as convenient stores, liquor stores, and gasoline stations have experienced high homicides and assault rates”. The same power point on panel 5 goes on to mention the following as risk factors for late-night retail workers:

  • Exchange of money
  • Solo work and isolated work sites
  • Sale of alcohol
  • Poorly lit stores and parking lots
  • Lack of staff training in recognizing and managing escalating hostile and aggressive behavior

There are things store owners can do to mitigate the risks to their employees and patrons.

  • Inspect parking lots and sidewalks now for potential trip hazards. Have curbs painted yellow to make them fire lanes as well as making them brighter to reduce the chance someone trips on them. Paint parking stops or blocks a reflective white or yellow again to lower the risk of tripping.
  • Cracked or raised sidewalks should be repaired or reported to a landlord.
  • Check the parking lot light timers to ensure they turn on as it becomes dusk.
  • Inspect all parking lot lights and have burned out lamps replaced.
  • Add extra exterior building security lights.
  • If you have not installed them, have night vision security cameras set up to monitor the parking lot, sidewalks, entrances, and corners that may be out of view.
  • Install interior cameras and Public View monitors. These cameras should be at the front entrance and exits, cameras that capture activity at and around cash registers and a camera in a cash office that can see the safe and as much of the office as possible.
  • Have a cash drop at each register for $50 and $100 bills.
  • Keep register positioned away from customers so they cannot reach over the counter into the till.
  • Always have at least two people working in a store and never allow one person to close or open alone.
  • If you have two people working consider having an employee offer to watch a patron walk to their car when they leave. Patrons will appreciate it and it will make them feel safer.
  • If your credit machine accepts debit cards think about refusing cash back transactions after 6 pm. You won’t have to make as many trips to the safe to refill the register after dark.
  • Use a counterfeit bill detector for all $20, $50 and $100 bills.
  • Train each employee on how to recognize and de-escalate aggressive situations. This is also a good reason to have a second person working.
  • If you can only afford one employee at a time and your business is in a strip mall partner with a neighboring business to work together to provide mutual security/support at opening and closing.
  • Employees may get tired more easily as the daylight decreases. Be aware that it can lower their alertness while working and when they drive home. Encourage workers to be careful so they don’t hurt themselves or others.

Operating stores can be different when darkness comes along earlier. Taking the right precautions, being aware of potential issues and planning ahead can make that transition easier. Don’t take hours of darkness lightly.

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RFID Technology

September 17, 2018 by Leave a Comment

For a small business owner, bringing sales to their business is not an easy feat.  It requires lots of hard work and diligence.  For an owner or manager of a retail store, it requires a lot of hard work to be profitable and to prevent shrink and losses in their stores. 

For them, the acquisition of affordable technology and software to help them prevent losses due to shoplifting, shrinkage, clerical or merchant errors is instrumental in having a successful and profitable business.

For many years now, the increased use of technology and the benefits associated with it has been self-evident in many industries, and the retail industry is no exception.

The value and transformation technology has brought to retailers, merchants and customers have been invaluable to them and to their bottom line. Technology usage has allowed them to decreased costs while maintaining better data and solutions that allow them to target specific areas within their business.

RFID systems and software have been around for many years now, but the adoption rates have increased considerably over the last few years due the lower cost and ease of use. Still, small retailers that are struggling financially will be less inclined to invest in an RFID system or any other type of loss prevention system despite needing it most.

The cost associated with acquiring a system that will help prevent losses, and help you target issues in your retail store can help you recover the cost associated with the system within a year in many cases.

Loss prevention systems and the costs associated with them can vary considerably, but businesses have many options depending on what they want the system to accomplish. Here is a technology linked with the retail industry that may be gaining ground with many benefits associated with its adoption.

RFID technology

  • RFIDs systems usage has provided many merchants great ROI and revenue increase within the first year of usage. The capabilities of this system to provide accurate inventory to the store owner or manager of the stores has seen an increase in their revenues while providing customers the merchandise they need and want.
  • RFID technology will allow businesses across industries up to the minute data and reliable inventory data.
  • RFID technology will save expenses where inventory related labor is concerned while achieving better and more accurate inventory data.

Acquiring a  loss prevention system can be daunting in the beginning due to the financial expense the business has to go through, but it is necessary if the business wants to stay competitive and profitable.

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Suspect Signs Of Employee Theft? What Is Your Next Step?

August 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Maybe you have seen it before and never gave it much thought, you walked by a cash register and saw a gift card lying next to it. A customer probably just changed their mind, right? Perhaps you saw your salesfloor person wearing a heavy jacket while working but you just attributed it to them being cold all the time. You may notice cash shortages periodically but they are under $10 and some people get busy and make little mistakes, it happens. Then there is the cashier that seems to be really interested in the store and always reports suspicious people he sees. He even asks managers if there might be security camera footage that could be reviewed to see the “suspect” in case they return. There is the saleswoman who finds a lot of empty packages on the floor and reports them to the manager and where she found them so managers would know about theft taking place in the store. These each seem like harmless issues on the surface but could there be something more nefarious going on under your nose? Is something starting to seem a bit curious after all? If you are suspecting something dishonest may be going on in your store what is your next step?

     You may be thinking this would be the time to call the police and report your suspicions. Hold your horses, what are you reporting, a gift card tucked next to a register? A couple of low dollar cash shortages? You won’t get very far with the police and they certainly aren’t going to do any investigation for you. The appropriate step is to contact Bill Bregar at Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. He will walk you through the next stages of what you need to do to look into this further. Sure you are busy and have a million things to do each day but if you suspect theft is taking place something has to be done before it gets out of hand. Then again maybe there is another way to tackle this. Yes, Bill will be happy to talk to you and discuss your case but it might be in your best interest to let Bill conduct the investigation for you.

     Why hire Bill to do the investigation for you? Well for starters Bill served in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman, a Military Intelligence Officer and he was a police officer.  He is no stranger to conducting investigations. He is a trained and licensed private investigator, skills that are well suited to a successful retail investigation. Bill has also been a Retail Loss Prevention Director at the national level which makes him uniquely qualified to conduct store-level dishonest employee investigations. Who better to have on your side as a detective unless you could hire Sherlock Holmes and I hear he is currently unavailable?

      Are there other signals you might be overlooking that may indicate dishonest activity other than those touched upon earlier? Do you know where to begin looking? Do you know how to look for indications of employee’s conducting fraudulent refunds? What are the signals of sweetheart deals taking place under your nose? You can have an inkling that theft is happening in your store but if you know what signals to look for you can be sure when it takes place. The critical piece to getting your merchandise and/or cash back and restitution is a successful investigation. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. has training seminars and workshops that can educate you on how employee theft takes place, signs to look for and how you can prevent it. When it does take place you will know what is going on and can call on Bill to be your personal gumshoe.

     Investigating employee theft is no game. Private investigators are a dime a dozen but finding a reputable company that is experienced in retail theft investigations is a more difficult task. Hiring an investigator with the background Bill has may seem to be an unattainable goal. Fortunately for the small and medium-sized retailers searching for a sleuth is simplified with a single stop at Loss Preventions Systems, Inc. Theft is probably happening in your store, the question is, what are you going to do about it?

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What is Shrink And What Does It Mean For Your Profit And Bottom Line?

August 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

 What is shrink? Obviously, that will depend on the context in which you are referencing it. It may be what happens when we wash a new pair of jeans in hot water. Maybe it is what happens to our household budget when our children get older and require more food, clothing, and school supplies. In retail, it has a different meaning altogether. Shrink is not a downsizing of a store or reduction of staff (although it can lead to those things if not addressed). Retail shrink is merchandise we cannot account for due to any number of reasons. It impacts the profit margin of a store and since those losses directly affect the retailer there are usually steps the store owner takes to try to offset those lost dollars. If not well thought out those measures the store owner takes could hurt the business further. There is a vicious circle that follows and can lead to a store closing down.

     In Retail Loss Prevention we generally identify four primary causes of shrink, shoplifting, employee theft, vendor shortage/fraud and administrative errors. According to the 2017 National Retail Security Survey, approximately 66.5% of shrink is attributable to shoplifting and employee theft combined. 21.3% of shrink is due to administrative and paperwork errors, 5.4% is related to vendor fraud or error and 6.8% was unknown (pg. 8). The same report states that the average retail shrink rate in the U.S. was 1.44% in 2017 (pg. 6). Since this is an average that means there are industry sectors that are higher and others that are a bit lower so where your store may fall can depend on what you sell.

     What mistakes do retailers make when trying to cover the profit losses from shrink? Often they increase prices on merchandise. Those price changes may be a few cents per item or a few dollars but no matter how small the increase regular customers notice those hikes. There comes a point when customer loyalty takes a backseat to customer’s budgets. No matter how minute you may feel a price increase is there is a threshold that customers will finally say enough is enough and they relent and shop at a big box retail store. Some store owners will make up for the lost revenue through reduced payrolls. This may include getting rid of full-time positions and making them part-time positions saving on benefit expenses. Employee hours may be reduced all around with the store owner picking up more of the workload themselves. The impact of this strategy is a blow to employee morale and loyalty. It can also lead to increased employee theft as those employees feel the financial pinch of the reduced hours and feel cheated. Reduced employee hours also means fewer people on the salesfloor providing customer service which results in more shoplifting, ergo more shrink. As you can see taking the wrong steps to address shrink can lead to a cycle that is hard to break and can lead to a store shut down.

     So if a retailer opts not to raise prices what is the resolution to solving the problem of shrink? Retailers cannot afford to continuously bear the costs of shrink. Assuming over 60% of a store’s shrink is incurred through theft then anti-theft measures are a logical starting point. Sensormatic security systems and tags play a critical role in theft prevention. They are proven to significantly cut into theft related shortage. They also help reduce a portion of administrative shortage. If it is tagged, merchandise overlooked in a shopping cart will activate an alarm and be paid for or returned to the store. Requiring vendors to check in and out of the store on a sign in sheet and making them talk to a manager about what they have done that day holds them accountable. Store managers should be doing weekly reviews of vendor credits to ensure they are not losing money for product removed from the store.

     Shrink can cut into your profit margin and if that isn’t bad enough addressing it improperly can make the situation for your store worse. Taking positive steps to address each of the areas where losses occur will improve shortage results. It will make you, your employees and your customers happier when your actions are directed towards the real culprits of shortage.

     

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Low-cost Loss Prevention Tips and Suggestions

August 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The retail industry loses an approximate $45 billion a year due to shoplifting, organized retail crime, merchant, and clerical errors. For the small retail owner, any loss due to shoplifting puts a financial strain on their ability to do business, hire more personnel or invest and grow their business.

The competition in every industry is brutal, and the retail industry is no different.  The online option the customer has of buying whatever they need or want with the click of a button is especially hard for a small retail owner.  Their inventory and profit margins they’re dealing with are nothing compared to the big-box chains’, and any loss they suffer is particularly painful for their profits.

There are many businesses that cannot afford to invest in new technology to deter or prevent shoplifting, and they are left with the option of losing more cash and inventory or close their doors permanently, all due to this crime. But, if they cannot invest in technology, and they cannot hire more personnel, what are some low-cost options they can implement in their store to deter or prevent shoplifting?

  1. Customer Service

One of the great assets these small retail stores have compared to the big chains or online stores is the customer service they can provide to their customers.  Providing the customer with a greeting when they walk into your store and offering them great customer service has shown to decrease shoplifting and increase customer satisfaction.

A satisfied customer is also more likely to promote your business.  In today’s social network platforms, a bad experience can potentially reach thousands of customers with disastrous backlash for you and your store, but a good experience can also do the same, it can reach many potential customers that want to do business with you.  Treat your customers as a business ambassador for your business, and you will see the results in your profits.

2. Inventory

Keeping a good inventory of what’s selling and the number of items you are missing-whether they were sold or stolen-from the shelves can help you keep an accurate count of the merchandise.

Do you know at a minute’s notice what inventory you have on hand? There are software solutions that help retailers keep track of such matters, and allows them to have reports daily and online to help them make adjustments, order more inventory if necessary, and know at a moment’s notice the state of their inventory.

3. Organization

The design, cleanliness and how well your product displays are kept are important in keeping shoplifting at a minimum.  Well lit aisles, merchandise displayed properly and organized can make the shelves look pretty and the items displayed can allow you and your employees to account for the merchandise with a quick look to the shelves.

4. Diligence

Your employees are your best bet to deter and prevent shoplifting.  Research has shown happy employees are the best asset your company has for success, and in this case to deter and prevent shoplifting.  Salaries are not the only incentive your employees look for when entering a new business, treating them with respect and allowing them the ability to prove and express themselves are key to the success of any business.

Shoplifting affects every citizen and every member of society. The way you respond to a shoplifting accident and the way you treat shoplifters reflect on how you conduct yourself and your business.

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Is There A Real Difference: EAS Tags & Labels?

August 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

You think that you may be scoring a great deal on cheap, knock-off Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) hard tags and labels, however, over time you find that you are missing shoplifters due to poor pick rates or hard tags that are easy to defeat. Why? To make real, quality EAS hard tags and labels it takes more effort and time. The materials and sophistication of the circuit is not something that can be easily done by a slave laborer in some dark factory in a third world nation. The labels we sell are all high-quality EAS labels and tags that are both Sensormatic and Checkpoint Systems compatible.

For example, we see hard tags that can be simply pried apart with a screwdriver. Or labels that fall off when the adhesive dries up. So what standards should you be applying to both EAS labels and hard tags?

LABELS:

  • High-quality labels have a high pick rate (sensitivity) at your EAS system. Our labels have some of the highest pick rates around.
  • Quality control is critical! Not every label manufactured meets the high standards that we set. That’s why Loss Prevention Systems’ labels that do not pass QC are marked. Those labels will probably work but we suggest that you do not use them. However, every roll of our labels has 2000+ labels. How do we do that? See the next point.
  • Better value! Because the QC mark does show up from time to time, we want to make sure that you get at least 2000 labels on a roll. To achieve that target we actually add approximately 2% more labels to each roll. It is rare to have 2% marked labels on a roll and so you end up with more good labels.
  • Aggressive adhesive! When you put our label on your merchandise, it is there to stay. After about an hour the adhesive sets up and that label is not going to fall off.
  • Variety! We stock many sizes and shapes labels that are Sensormatic or Checkpoint Systems compatible. One type of Checkpoint compatible RF label you should check out is our clear label. It can be applied directly over your merchandise barcode and your scanner can scan right through it. This helps disguise the label and it does not cover up vital information such as directions on your merchandise packaging.
  • Our labels will not reactivate after they have been deactivated! When you pass our label over a quality deactivation unit, it kills the label and the label stays dead. It will not reactivate after your customer leaves the Point-Of-Sale (POS) cash register and before your front door. Cheap labels can and will do this in many cases at an alarming rate. This causes an unnecessary alarm that you have to deal with, embarrassing your good customers.
  • Most of our labels are faced with Thermal Transfer (TT) paper. That means you can print on them with your TT printer which you use to print your store pricing labels. This also helps disguise the EAS label.

HARD TAGS:

  • Look at the seams of a hard tag. Are the seams welded together so that they are smooth and cannot be pried apart with a tool? Our hard tags have a tightly welded seam.
  • Snag clothing? Poorly made hard tags can have a rough seam that will snag your clothing merchandise.
  • Our hard tags come in a wide range of unique styles, sizes, and colors.
  • The clutch mechanism in our hard tags grabs the pin and does not let go easily. The best hard tag in the world is useless unless the tag can securely hold the pin.
  • We have some of the smallest hard tags on the market. They can not only be used for protecting many types of jewelry but can be used on any other product that you can clip it onto.

So don’t cut yourself short. You paid for and installed an EAS system; do not let your investment give you an inadequate return because you use cheap labels or tags. Interested in samples of Loss Prevention Systems’ labels and hard tags? Contact us for a free sample pack.

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Influences That Made A Difference In My L.P. Career

August 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

In every career, there are people, places, and things that help to shape who you become in that career. A Retail Loss Prevention career is no different. My career in Loss Prevention goes back nearly 27 years. A long time ago in a department store not far away I was hired as a Loss Prevention Associate with only my military experience and a college degree in hand. I had absolutely no Loss Prevention background. There have been lessons learned along the way that shaped the way I approached Loss Prevention and the way I developed my style of working with people and managing others.

     Coming from a military police background I first approached Loss Prevention with a law enforcement perspective. Unbeknownst to me, a former supervisor of mine from my old unit was working part-time at the store to which I was applying for a job. He saw my application and encouraged the L.P. Manager to hire me. I was trained by this co-worker and the L.P. Manager who also had a military background. We formed a strong team and were very good at catching shoplifters. I learned a lot about identifying suspects and even learned some aspects of investigating an internal crime. What we didn’t do as well I learned later in my career was having a more global outlook on the role of L.P. in the store.

     A little over four and a half years later I found myself hired as a Loss Prevention Manager for another company. Because I was in the same city I brought along my police partnerships, knowledge of the crime in the area and my same perspective. I viewed the work as closely related to police work. It was in this store that I found I had to earn the trust and respect of a Store Manager who had over twenty years of experience with this company. I did not report directly to this manager but rather to a District L.P. Manager who did not get along well with the store manager. I was new to the company, opening a brand new store in a remote market and caught between these two bosses. There were a number of lessons I learned during the tenure of these two. I found there are times you have to learn how to do a delicate balancing act between two managers making demands of you and your team. I learned from the store manager to expect excellence from your team. From the District LPM, I learned to be confident in my interactions.

     After a year a new DLPM took over and from him, I learned that there is more to the L.P. business than saving money. I found out that based on my experience and degree I was hired at a much lower salary than I should have been when I was made a job offer. This new manager went to bat for me and got a mid-year pay increase for me that I had not sought and learned were rarely awarded. While I often disagreed with this supervisor over some of his directions I always respected him for what he did for me though he had only known me a brief time.  Being fair and treating people with respect were valuable takeaways from this manager that I never forgot.

      As the years went by I found my own perspective on what the role of Loss Prevention in stores should be and it changed how I interacted with the others in the store management team. I began to see our department as less a policing department and more of a shortage reduction department. That included the traditional efforts to deter and/or catch shoplifters as well as investigating dishonest employee activity. I also focused on many of the factors that impacted operational shortage, the markdown process, product out of date issues and even employee best practices with freight unloading. As I spent time in other departments I learned more ways to make an impact on overall store shortage.

     Today, my Loss Prevention experiences are used to help me drive sales and deter theft as a retail sales associate. I have carried the management skills into a library supervisor position. I also have the opportunity to provide insights into Loss Prevention and improving sales and how Loss Prevention Systems Inc. can assist businesses in becoming more profitable. As you read this article I would challenge you to look at your own career, whether it is in Loss Prevention or in retail or just in life and reflect on how you have adapted your style and who has influenced your career.

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Seasonal checklist of items to increase sales and/or help with inventory

August 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

  How many times have you caught yourself in a conversation with another manager or a supervisor discussing a seasonal merchandise question or an inventory preparation question and found yourself saying, “I think we did it this way” or “ It seems to me customers were buying such and such last year”? It can be frustrating, especially when the discussion may influence whether an item should be carried or if it was carried the prior year was it a flop? The same thing happens with inventory. Did we start prepping 5 days out? No? Maybe it was 3 days out. Having checklists can make these conversations fewer in number and improve productivity as well as sales performance.

     How do you get those checklists? There has to be a starting point and that is going to be a brainstorming session with the management team. If you have no empirical data saved from the past year you will need to begin anew and then establish a baseline for what information you will collect over the next year. Planning will be easier and you can modify your checklist at next year’s planning meeting making adjustments based on what worked and what didn’t work (you may even call it a “What Worked/What Didn’t Work” session. Begin this season start listing the things you have done to prepare for this year. Here is a short list of some of those things you might consider placing on that list:

  • What seasonal merchandise did you bring in? Sunglasses, coolers, flip-flops, swimwear might be items some of the items you normally would not carry but added to your store in April or May. If you carry groceries you may have added more sports drinks, cold desserts or traditional summer favorites such as watermelon, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, or apples. Maybe you tried some vendor suggested drinks in your front checkout lane coolers. List those items and keep track of your sales for them.
  • Where is your product placement for new/seasonal items? Have you set up new fixtures? Did you have fixtures stored and if so where did you store them? It is important to sketch these things out. If a change in personnel takes place by next year someone should be able to pull out those plans and understand them assuming those plans worked and incorporate them in next year’s checklist.
  • If you have brought in new seasonal merchandise, what did you do to make room for it? Did you relocate other goods to a stockroom? How did you do that and where did you place it? Map out where goods are stored in the stockroom so your team can replicate it next summer.
  • Did you change or extend your hours of operation for the summer to increase sales? If so you need to review the sales data and determine if those extended hours truly helped increase sales. When did you start the hours and when will you resume standard operating times? If extended hours did not make a big difference don’t rule out the strategy until you take a look at how you advertised those time changes. Question results whose outcomes were not what you were hoping to achieve. If you have thoroughly reviewed the strategy and it could not have been improved then discard it. Don’t be afraid to try new things just be honest about results and don’t make excuses if you don’t see the results you expected. Pride can bring down a store quickly.
  • Look at staffing. Did you hire additional summer help and if so, when did you hire them and how many? Prior to deciding to just release them look at your sales information, including dollars per transaction and your total transactions. You may release them this year but keep that information and use it for future planning.

As you and your management team begin strategizing and asking these questions you will find you open doors to more questions that will help drill down further. The more points you can identify the better your checklist will be.

     Once the plans are made, it will be easier to know which numbers you are going to track. You will have documentation that will serve as the blueprints for building a winning strategy that will be a basis for future years. You and your team will find it a less challenging task when it is time to identify and discard losing strategies. Come inventory time or the next summer sales season your store will be ready to roll out a playbook that will make your store a success!

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Make Inventory Preparation Fun For Everyone

August 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

     “It’s INVENTORY time let’s go have FUN!” There’s a phrase you will never hear. Let’s face it anyone who has been through an inventory knows that it is drudgery. Aside from the counting of merchandise, there is all the preparation that leads up to it. If done properly it is time-consuming and tedious. You and your team are standing on ladders looking on top of fixtures, digging through boxes, in cabinets, and behind fixtures for items that have been misplaced. There is also kneeling to look under gondola base decks, cashier stands or under soft drink coolers for that one little piece of merchandise that rolled under there months ago. Then there are the painstaking tasks that need to be completed such as going through merchandise to make sure everything is properly ticketed. Someone should be spending some time contacting vendors with cut-off dates for bringing in a new product or providing credits for merchandise they are removing. Store managers have to make sure all of the tasks are being planned out, assigning who will complete them and follow up on them. ALL of this is BEFORE inventory night even takes place. Oh did I mention you still have to keep your store operating while you get these projects done? No, it really is not a fun prospect and if your employees get grumpy or dirty and dusty while doing these things they may not be thorough in their assignments. Do your inventory overnight and employees get tired and frazzled and you could wind up having more shortage than you should. Finding methods to get your team on board and keeping them fired up requires making inventory fun.

     How do you make inventory fun and interesting for your employees? There is a variety of ideas store managers can introduce to make the process more engaging for their staff.

  • Almost every business has that one person who is creative and let’s face it super-energetic about fun activities. Find that person, make them your inventory “Fun Captain” and cut them loose. You may even give them a small budget to work with so it is more fun for them too and they feel empowered to make decisions. It will be a load off of your plate. Just be sure that there are brief status meetings you two hold so you can help keep things on track. Sometimes these folks can have grandiose ideas that can be tough to reign in if you don’t stay a little involved.
  • FOOD! Everyone loves food and it can pump up the mood of a team. If you have a “Fun Captain”, ask them to come up with a week of food ideas for each day of prep and inventory night. It doesn’t have to be fancy maybe “Doughnut Monday”, “Candy Corn Tuesday”, “Pretzel Wednesday” and so on, you get my drift. Inventory day should be a bit more special. I have seen everything from fruit, coffee, and soda brought in for energy overnights to sub sandwiches and chips. One place I worked for the store manager brought in breakfast foods at the start of the day and pizzas that afternoon. Be creative!
  • Music. I saw one store that did inventory overnight and since there were no customers they played upbeat music over the P.A. system. Someone from that store would occasionally get on the microphone or phone and pretend to be a DJ. It was lively, it didn’t cost anything and the “DJ” was entertaining and funny.
  • Hold contests. Who doesn’t enjoy being part of a contest? It may be giving a prize to the person who can find merchandise stuck in the oddest location. Maybe it is retail trivia questions focused on shortage and safety issues. A correct answer can be rewarded with a “fun-sized” candy bar. You can purchase those bags in any grocery store and if you sell them then requisition a bag.

There are other ideas you or your “Fun Captain” will come up with, the key is to make it enjoyable for your team. Remember, the more engaged your team is and the more they understand why they are preparing for inventory the better the overall results will be when shrinkage numbers come back.

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Preventing Shoplifting The Right Way

July 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The laws in the United States concerning shoplifting undergo changes that in some instances put the strain on the retailers and their profit margins.  The shoplifting law changes in 2014, in California, for example, let retailers in the state feel a sense of vulnerability and hopelessness.  They expressed concerns about the fact that the laws allowed individuals to feel empowered to go into a store and shoplift without getting into too much trouble. 

Those losses are not only detrimental to the profit margins of the store but can mean an increase in the number of shoplifters that can enter the store feeling embolden to steal. Such an increase comes with an increase in violence, and retailers are feeling the change. Proposition 47 passed in 2014 that reduce the penalties for many crimes, shoplifting included a law change that has left many retailers feeling vulnerable.

On the other hand, big retailers such as Wal-Mart, Bloomingdales, and Krogers are being sued for extorting customers.  They accuse customers of shoplifting and then charging them money for the “courtesy” of not calling the police. The customers are bullied into paying for an online class by a company called Corrective Education Company and then the company pays Wal-Mart, Bloomingdales, and Krogers a cut of what they are charging these accused customers.  The practice is insidious and wrong according to the legal company carrying the lawsuit, and customers and retailers have to be aware of this insidious and amoral practice.

Shoplifting is a crime, and retailers are arguably upset by the law changes that make it for them more difficult to do business. But, accusing customers that do not have the financial means to hire legal counsel is preying upon the poor and defenseless, and that is morally wrong.

Protecting a business from shoplifters is the responsibility of the owner and the management team, and no one understands the travail the loss prevention team goes through every day when the store opens its door for business. If, as a store owner, you are asking yourself what is a good solution for the prevention of shoplifting, we have to tell you, you have many.

But, one of the most effective solutions you have at your disposal for the prevention of shoplifting in your businesses is training your personnel and management team.  Research has shown time and again that having trained personnel in your store or business decreases your losses thus increasing your profits.

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