Shoplifting is an issue with lots of bad ramifications. The shoplifting that many businesses experience is financially devastating for the business, local and US economies. The financial burden that small business owners experience due to shoplifting can be hard to overcome. Profits are slim in some cases and the shoplifting and employee theft can make a small retail business close its doors for good. For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.
Why Inventory Tracking Software Is a Critical Investment
Running a small business often means making tough decisions about how to spend and where to invest your limited capital. From inventory shrinkage to supply and forecasting challenges, an effective inventory tracking system and software is a critical company investment.
If you don’t track your inventory, you have no way of preventing employee theft, and trying to create your own inventory system using a spreadsheet program like Excel is time-consuming, error-prone, and rarely effective.
These days, it is relatively inexpensive for a small to medium-sized business to get its own inventory tracking system with the latest software. When you consider the potential costs of not tracking your inventory, it’s a no-brainer.
Beating Inventory Shrink
In 2014, inventory shrink resulted in over $44 billion in losses for retailers, over 50% of it the result of internal theft, administrative errors, and unknown causes. Internal theft alone accounts for 34.5% of inventory shrink. Administrative errors make up another 16.5% of shrink. These can be significantly reduced through the implementation of effective inventory software and systems.
Owner: Shoplifting ‘not a victimless crime’
Owner’s experience shows the toll that shoplifting takes on small businesses.
BY SPENCER PARTS RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER
CARY, N.C. — In early July, designer dresses, slacks and jackets valued at $3,000 were stolen from ADORE Designer Resale Boutique in this Raleigh suburb, one of Nancy Alinovi’s two consignment shops in the area. She still feels sick about it.
“It’s just this feeling in your chest,” she said. “It’s not a victimless crime.”
Alinovi said it will be months before everything returns to normal at the family-owned boutiques, which cut prices in order to stay afloat after the theft. Her experience shows the toll shoplifting takes on small businesses, where margins are small and business is personal.
According to a National Retail Federation’s security survey, shoplifting accounted for 38 percent of the $44 billion in retail inventory loss due to crime in 2014.
Large capital losses from theft are especially hard on small businesses, said Jennifer Martin, executive director of Shop Local Raleigh, an organization that advocates for and supports small companies. Many smaller firms are tight on time and money, and an unexpected event can push them to the breaking point.
Security systems know all the self-scan tricks
MOUNT DORA — Last August, a 58-year-old woman, using a self-checkout station at Wal-Mart in Leesburg, allegedly was seen placing two items in her hand before scanning them so the scanner could not record the barcode and charge her for the blocked item.
Assuming she was being watched from afar, she also allegedly waved items too far away from the scanner for it to record a sale but made it look like she was using the equipment as intended.
On Saturday, a 30-year-old woman allegedly tried a couple of other ways to beat the system at Wal-Mart in Mount Dora, concealing items inside a sweatshirt and even a backpack she self-scanned.
Neither got away with it and face theft charges because retailers know all the tricks and have self-check security systems in place to detect them, according to the website retailtouchpoints.com.
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.