I don’t normally find myself shopping for jewelry. For starters, I’m a guy. I don’t have any daughters and I hadn’t quite got to the point where I’m ready to “pop the question” to my girlfriend. I also don’t like chains, or watches myself. A few months ago, I got dragged… I mean, I accompanied said girlfriend to the mall. Love makes you do crazy things, right? I don’t care for malls either. It is funny for me to see how vastly different some retailers are in their strategies (or lack thereof) to prevent shoplifting. Some stores are like walking into Fort Knox, while others are basically an open field of daisies, just waiting for someone to come along and pick up and pocket whatever they wanted. Which style of retailer are you?
Hopefully, you’ve been able to find a balance. I chuckle at stores that go big on everything. Prevent shoplifting? Absolutely. Look ridiculous with giant ink tags on $4 items? Also, absolutely? We ended up in this store at some point in that wonderful day that, even if threatened with another day at the mall, I couldn’t tell you the name. I was however, quite impressed at their varied use of Alpha JewelLoks.
Throughout my professional career, I had come into contact with Alpha JewelLoks on a few occasions. In every platform that I’ve seen them used, it was to secure a piece of jewelry. With its hook made of hardened steel, this is the go-to tag for jewelry. Literally, you will break jewelry before you break the tag. I’ve seen it demonstrated (once on accident and once by an incredibly stupid thief). This store that I found myself in though, didn’t really carry jewelry.
These guys had figured out just how versatile the Alpha JewelLok was. Instead of placing a giant hulking tag on a small change purse, they simple used one of those tags through the pull tab on the zipper. Almost every item that was over $30 had an Alpha JewelLok. The tags are so small; you really didn’t notice them at all. I was impressed. They clearly were doing a heck of a job preventing shoplifting, all while maintaining a clean presentation of their product.
I thought back to my stores and what I could use these for. We have struggled for years with shrink in denim jeans. We’ve tried pencil tags, hard tags, soft tags and ink tags. All with varying degrees of success. When I got back to my store on Monday I ordered a case of these tags; I had an idea. Once in hand, I secured every single pair of denim jeans with them. I simply passed the hook through the pull tab on the zipper. I then tried really hard to cut the tag. First with scissors, then a nail clipper. Guess what? It hung in there! It’s been 3 months since I deployed the Alpha JewelLok and my shrink in denim has dropped nearly 2%. While this is definitely an unconventional use for them, I can say that it works. What other product can you secure in your store with these awesome little tags?
For more information about Alpha Hard Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
