I don’t know about you, but I really despise losing merchandise to thefts that could be easily preventable by using clothing security devices. If you want to stop clothing thefts from occurring in your store, you have to spend a little money on protecting your merchandise, but that investment will be returned to you in the form of less theft and more profit for you. In addition to security tags on clothes, you should also look into other methods of safeguarding your merchandise, such as purchasing video cameras and a DVR (digital video recorder). It’s no different than any other area of business you invest in, you put money in to get money out, and these are returns you will actually see happening.
You might think, why invest in this technology when I have employees that are looking out for shoplifters? Having your team trained on theft awareness is a great deterrent for shoplifting, and it could be cost effective depending on the situation. On the other hand, think about how much payroll goes into keeping all areas of the store constantly staffed. Would it be more cost effective to have another employee on the schedule to provide presence in the store for theft deterrence, or to put that payroll money toward Checkpoint tags? Also consider that most of these clothing security tags can be reused over and over again. If you have a store that staffs only one or two workers in the store at a time, what happens when those employees are helping actual paying customers? They aren’t going to be paying much attention to the other areas of the store at that time.
Although investing in these items could get expensive if you get a little overly motivated and buy a ton of different stuff all at once, but you might be surprised at the selection of clothing security devices and components that are very affordable, especially when you look at what you could be saving on keeping merchandise inside the store. I know it’s a cliché to say, but these items will actually pay for themselves in the long run.
Anyone that manages or owns a clothing store should already know this, but for the best results, you should really have an EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) system with antennas at all entrance and exit doors. The system works with Checkpoint tags and other devices that can be placed directly on the clothing items or other merchandise you have stocked in your store. You need to use both the clothing security tags and EAS system together, because without each other, they would only serve as a deterrent. It would kind of be like having a beware of dog sign, without actually having the dog. Yes, that may scare some potential thieves off, but after a while when they realize there is no dog to bark or bite, word will spread and theft will increase.
Honestly, the best option is to use a combination of all of these measures to protect your clothing or other merchandise. You have to go over the numbers and come up with the best solution for your situation. Everyone’s needs are different, so what works great for one store may not be the best solution for the store next door.
For more information contact us: (clothing security) or call 1.770.426.0547
I don’t know about you, but I really despise losing merchandise to thefts that could be easily preventable by using clothing security devices. If you want to stop clothing thefts from occurring in your store, you have to spend a little money on protecting your merchandise, but that investment will be returned to you in the form of less theft and more profit for you. In addition to security tags on clothes, you should also look into other methods of safeguarding your merchandise, such as purchasing video cameras and a DVR (digital video recorder). It’s no different than any other area of business you invest in, you put money in to get money out, and these are returns you will actually see happening.
You might think, why invest in this technology when I have employees that are looking out for shoplifters? Having your team trained on theft awareness is a great deterrent for shoplifting, and it could be cost effective depending on the situation. On the other hand, think about how much payroll goes into keeping all areas of the store constantly staffed. Would it be more cost effective to have another employee on the schedule to provide presence in the store for theft deterrence, or to put that payroll money toward Checkpoint Tags? Also consider that most of these clothing security tags can be reused over and over again. If you have a store that staffs only one or two workers in the store at a time, what happens when those employees are helping actual paying customers? They aren’t going to be paying much attention to the other areas of the store at that time.
Although investing in these items could get expensive if you get a little overly motivated and buy a ton of different stuff all at once, but you might be surprised at the selection of clothing security devices and components that are very affordable, especially when you look at what you could be saving on keeping merchandise inside the store. I know it’s a cliché to say, but these items will actually pay for themselves in the long run.
Anyone that manages or owns a clothing store should already know this, but for the best results, you should really have an EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) system with antennas at all entrance and exit doors. The system works with Checkpoint tags and other devices that can be placed directly on the clothing items or other merchandise you have stocked in your store. You need to use both the Clothing Security Tags and EAS system together, because without each other, they would only serve as a deterrent. It would kind of be like having a beware of dog sign, without actually having the dog. Yes, that may scare some potential thieves off, but after a while when they realize there is no dog to bark or bite, word will spread and theft will increase.
Honestly, the best option is to use a combination of all of these measures to protect your clothing or other merchandise. You have to go over the numbers and come up with the best solution for your situation. Everyone’s needs are different, so what works great for one store may not be the best solution for the store next door.
For more information contact us: Clothing Security or call 1.770.426.0547
When you hear the word grazing, you probably think of a large field full of cows munching on grass, but in the context of theft it has a slightly different meaning. Grazing is when a customer or employee uses or consumes part of a product while in the store. So how can you stop this from happening to you in your store that carries bottles of alcohol? If you have found bottles of liquor or wine that have been, let’s say “sampled” in your store, this is probably what you are experiencing, and you will definitely want to explore the option of using bottle locks to secure your products and ensure this doesn’t occur in the future. I call grazing the gateway theft because I have personally witnessed employees and even shoplifters start off by consuming food or drink in the store and then graduate into other types of theft.
I’ve noticed a lot of buzz about this subject in news articles lately revolving around the arrest of those committing these types of theft. Unfortunately, there are some people who don’t even consider it to be theft if they sample a little bit of the product. No matter what it’s called, it is causing you a loss if someone is taking even a small amount of your products without paying for it first. Bottle locks, like those available from Alpha Security allow you to protect your alcohol, but they don’t take away from the appearance of the bottles. There are several different types of the devices, which have a sleek design that fits right on top of the bottles. This will ensure that patrons don’t have access to open the bottles and drink them while in the store, or even open them up and pour them into another container for future consumption.
Although you may place a considerable amount of focus on your bottle security measures as far as shelf placement in relation to the view from the employees behind the register, it’s not always the shoplifters you have to worry about. Even if they employees are highly trained and aware of red flags to look for regarding shoplifters while they are working, there is never a guarantee that they will actually observe the theft at the time it is occurring. This is especially true in smaller stores where they might be the only employee on duty at the time. If several customers are checking out at the same time, it is unlikely that one employee will be able to help everyone and still keep a sharp eye out for possible thefts. It’s not always the shoplifters you have to worry about though, I’ve started many internal theft investigations by finding an empty package of food or drink in the stockroom. It’s a good starting point for an investigation, because you will find that when employees are stealing in this manner, they are most likely taking other merchandise as well.
The bottom line is that bottle locks will allow you to maintain a high level of bottle security for your liquor and wine without locking it in a showcase or someone constantly standing guard. These devices will give your employees the freedom to help the paying customers while having the peace of mind that the merchandise is secured at all times.
For more information contact us: (bottle locks) or call 1.770.426.0547
When you hear the word grazing, you probably think of a large field full of cows munching on grass, but in the context of theft it has a slightly different meaning. Grazing is when a customer or employee uses or consumes part of a product while in the store. So how can you stop this from happening to you in your store that carries bottles of alcohol? If you have found bottles of liquor or wine that have been, let’s say “sampled” in your store, this is probably what you are experiencing, and you will definitely want to explore the option of using Bottle Loks to secure your products and ensure this doesn’t occur in the future. I call it grazing the gateway of theft because I have personally witnessed employees and even shoplifters start off by consuming food or drink in the store and then graduate into other types of theft.
I’ve noticed a lot of buzz about this subject in news articles lately revolving around the arrest of those committing these types of theft. Unfortunately, there are some people who don’t even consider it to be theft if they sample a little bit of the product. No matter what it’s called, it is causing you a loss if someone is taking even a small amount of your products without paying for it first. Bottle Loks, like those available from Alpha Security allow you to protect your alcohol, but they don’t take away from the appearance of the bottles. There are several different types of the devices, which have a sleek design that fits right on top of the bottles. This will ensure that patrons don’t have access to open the bottles and drink them while in the store, or even open them up and pour them into another container for future consumption.
Although you may place a considerable amount of focus on your bottle security measures as far as shelf placement in relation to the view from the employees behind the register, it’s not always the shoplifters you have to worry about. Even if the employees are highly trained and aware of red flags to look for regarding shoplifters while they are working, there is never a guarantee that they will actually observe the theft at the time it is occurring. This is especially true in smaller stores where they might be the only employee on duty at the time. If several customers are checking out at the same time, it is unlikely that one employee will be able to help everyone and still keep a sharp eye out for possible thefts. It’s not always the shoplifters you have to worry about though, I’ve started many internal theft investigations by finding an empty package of food or drink in the stockroom. It’s a good starting point for an investigation, because you will find that when employees are stealing in this manner, they are most likely taking other merchandise as well.
The bottom line is that Bottle Loks will allow you to maintain a high level of bottle security for your liquor and wine without locking it in a showcase or someone constantly standing guard. These devices will give your employees the freedom to help the paying customers while having the peace of mind that the merchandise is secured at all times.
For more information contact us at Bottle Loks or call 1.770.426.0547
In the loss prevention world, we look at things a bit different than our business colleagues. Executives and company managers look at how well a product will sell and we look at how easy that same item is to steal. We always seem to play the devil’s advocate on merchandise in the stores. Sometimes, that’s not an easy role to play since it’s very common to be labeled “sales prevention”. We’re all on the same team, and we all have the same goals. Just as company leadership wants to increase sales and reduce expenses, I also want to increase sales. They have their way, and I have mine… simply stop shoplifting by making small changes throughout the stores.
Understandably so, not every item in a store can be protected by additional security measures. I can’t spend the money and payroll expense to stick a checkpoint label on each of the 100,000 items in my store. You just can‘t do that. What you need to do is identify what product has the most risk for loss, or look at the products that your shrink is the highest on, then make decisions on how to best keep that product in the store in order to generate sales.
No bigger challenge have I ever faced with company management was the tagging of denim jeans. The company I worked for had a large selection of jeans and our sales in that category were very strong. So was shrink. For every 5 pairs we sold, we lost one. For you math whizzes, that’s a 20% loss. Our margins was only 25%, so we were not making that profit. But we were making a profit, and that’s all the executive levels managers cared about. Week after week, I would bring up shrink in this category. I would showcase my team’s apprehension statistics on denim. Heck, I even showed video in one meeting where an organized group of Cuban Nationals hit 15 stores and stole more than 500 pairs of denim in ONE DAY! It still wasn’t enough to convince the guys in the ivory tower to let me deploy something as simple as checkpoint tags to reduce the losses. After at least 2 years of push back, I was finally able to test a tagging initiative in ONE store.
I purchased a small quantity of ink tags and tagged every single pair of jeans in the store. Two months went by and not a single pair of jeans were stolen. Not one. The checkpoint tag was enough of a deterrent for our thieves not to tamper with. After showing these results to company management, we then deployed the tags company wide. It took years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss to get to this point.
Chances are, if you are reading this, you can don’t have to deal with the headache I do. Small business owners and stores are targeted by the same shoplifters as large chains. The difference is that large companies can absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss, whereas that same number to a single family owned store would be devastating. I encourage every business owner to stand up to shoplifting and protect your biggest financial investment, your inventory.
For more information, contact us: Anti-Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
In the loss prevention world, we look at things a bit different than our business colleagues. Executives and company managers look at how well a product will sell and we look at how easy that same item is to steal. We always seem to play the devil’s advocate on merchandise in the stores. Sometimes, that’s not an easy role to play since it’s very common to be labeled “sales prevention”. We’re all on the same team, and we all have the same goals. Just as company leadership wants to increase sales and reduce expenses, I also want to increase sales. They have their way, and I have mine… simply stop shoplifting by making small changes throughout the stores.
Understandably so, not every item in a store can be protected by additional security measures. I can’t spend the money and payroll expense to stick a Checkpoint Label on each of the 100,000 items in my store. You just can‘t do that. What you need to do is identify what product has the most risk for loss, or look at the products that your shrink is the highest on, then make decisions on how to best keep that product in the store in order to generate sales.
No bigger challenge have I ever faced with company management was the tagging of denim jeans. The company I worked for had a large selection of jeans and our sales in that category were very strong. So was shrink. For every 5 pairs we sold, we lost one. For you math whizzes, that’s a 20% loss. Our margins were only 25%, so we were not making that profit. But we were making a profit, and that’s all the executive levels managers cared about. Week after week, I would bring up shrink in this category. I would showcase my team’s apprehension statistics on denim. Heck, I even showed video in one meeting where an organized group of Cuban Nationals hit 15 stores and stole more than 500 pairs of denim in ONE DAY! It still wasn’t enough to convince the guys in the ivory tower to let me deploy something as simple as Checkpoint Tags to reduce the losses. After at least 2 years of push back, I was finally able to test a tagging initiative in ONE store.
I purchased a small quantity of Checkpoint Ink Tags and tagged every single pair of jeans in the store. Two months went by and not a single pair of jeans were stolen. Not one. The Checkpoint Tag was enough of a deterrent for our thieves not to tamper with. After showing these results to company management, we then deployed the tags company wide. It took years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss to get to this point.
Chances are, if you are reading this, you don’t have to deal with the headache I do. Small business owners and stores are targeted by the same shoplifters as large chains. The difference is that large companies can absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss, whereas that same number to a single family owned store would be devastating. I encourage every business owner to stand up to shoplifting and protect your biggest financial investment, your inventory.
For more information, contact us: Anti-Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Is there anything you can do to prevent shoplifting? Of course there is! No matter what type of retailer you are, no matter the product you sell and no matter how small your business may be, there is definitely a solution to any type of theft problem you are having. And if you think you don’t have a theft problem, I can assure you that you do.
Take for instance, baseball mitts. When you think of baseball mitts, do you really think of this as being a high shrink item? Probably not. In my world it is, though. I worked for a company that carried some of the most expensive baseball mitts you could imagine. My job was to make sure they didn’t walk off… or didn’t walk off easily.
Mitts are difficult to secure. You can’t very well strap an Alpha Spider Wrap around them, or jab a hard tag through the leather. You also needed to still allow the customer to feel, touch and try on the glove. It’s a balancing act for sure. For quite a few years, we deployed Alpha 2 alarm tags through the webbing. The cable allowed for ease of use and it didn’t interfere with the customer’s experience. The problem was we would find defeated tags pretty often. The determined thief would simply cut the cable, then steal the glove.
We needed something that accomplished the same goals, but alarmed if the tag was tampered with, or the cable was cut. The alpha 3 alarm gave us those benefits, all while keeping with our commitment to our customers. Thieves still target our gloves occasionally though. The only difference is when they cut the tag, it’s pretty easy to identify the shoplifter. They’re the ones with the incredibly surprised look on their face as they try to discard the screeching security device!!
For more information, contact us: Prevent Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Is there anything you can do to prevent shoplifting? Of course there is! No matter what type of retailer you are, no matter the product you sell and no matter how small your business may be, there is definitely a solution to any type of theft problem you are having. And if you think you don’t have a theft problem, I can assure you that you do.
Take for instance, baseball mitts. When you think of baseball mitts, do you really think of this as being a high shrink item? Probably not. In my world it is, though. I worked for a company that carried some of the most expensive baseball mitts you could imagine. My job was to make sure they didn’t walk off… or didn’t walk off easily.
Mitts are difficult to secure. You can’t very well strap an Alpha Spider Wrap around them, or jab a hard tag through the leather. You also needed to still allow the customer to feel, touch and try on the glove. It’s a balancing act for sure. For quite a few years, we deployed Alpha 2 alarm tags through the webbing. The cable allowed for ease of use and it didn’t interfere with the customer’s experience. The problem was we would find defeated tags pretty often. The determined thief would simply cut the cable, then steal the glove.
We needed something that accomplished the same goals, but alarmed if the tag was tampered with, or the cable was cut. The Alpha 3 Alarm gave us those benefits, all while keeping with our commitment to our customers. Thieves still target our gloves occasionally though. The only difference is when they cut the tag, it’s pretty easy to identify the shoplifter. They’re the ones with the incredibly surprised look on their face as they try to discard the screeching security device!!
For more information, contact us: Prevent Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
You may think that shoplifters are the only people making clothing disappear from your store without paying for it, but there could be other sinister individuals that are making your profits dwindle away, leaving you wondering what happened. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s probably not a magician, and this is no illusion. You could be losing just as much of your merchandise from your own store employees or other people that work in your store such as contracted workers like cleaning crews, or even vendors. When creating your clothing security strategy, it is important to consider thefts from these types of associates and plan accordingly.
I have conducted several internal theft investigations in which the contracted cleaning crew was taking merchandise from the store. One case in particular was a cleaning crew that was comprised of three people, and all of them were stealing. The crew worked overnight to early morning, and two of them usually worked together and the other worked by himself. I first noticed one of the two that worked together picking up merchandise from the shelf, and placing it into a bag that was on the floor cleaning machine. At that point, I didn’t know if anyone else was involved, because he was by himself when he concealed the item.
I then continued watching, and saw that his counterpart was looking at clothing while working. The next night, I saw her pick up some clothing and take it into the fitting rooms. At the time, the store didn’t place security tags on clothes that fell into the price category she selected. When she came out of the fitting rooms, the clothing was nowhere to be found. I later checked the fitting rooms, and didn’t find the clothing, it’s almost like it disappeared into thin air. We did find the tags though, so I looked which types of clothing she was taking and reworked our clothing security strategy to add merchandise she was taking to the list of clothing we were protecting with Checkpoint tags. I then installed a covert camera in area of the stockroom where the cleaning crew kept its supplies. That was the turning point in the case. Not only did I observe her remove clothing from under the clothing she was wearing and conceal it into her own purse, but I also got a better understanding of the activities of the whole crew.
The subject that I watched conceal merchandise into the bag performed that trick nightly, and he brought the concealed items back into the supply area, where he transferred the items from the bag to his pockets. Most of the merchandise he took was small electronics and clothing. I learned they were working together when they both met near the cleaning supply area and showed each other what they had taken for the night. Then to my surprise, I observed the third member of the team go to the supply area by himself, and pull food out of his pockets that he would sit and eat. I later found that he picked the food up from the sales floor while he was working, and so were the other two members. When I concluded the investigation and spoke with the associates, it turned out that the two that worked together had no idea that the third person was also stealing, and vice versa.
For more information contact us: (clothing security) or call 1.770.426.0547
You may think that shoplifters are the only people making clothing disappear from your store without paying for it, but there could be other sinister individuals that are making your profits dwindle away, leaving you wondering what happened. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s probably not a magician, and this is no illusion. You could be losing just as much of your merchandise from your own store employees or other people that work in your store such as contracted workers like cleaning crews, or even vendors. When creating your clothing security strategy, it is important to consider thefts from these types of associates and plan accordingly.
I have conducted several internal theft investigations in which the contracted cleaning crew was taking merchandise from the store. One case in particular was a cleaning crew that was comprised of three people, and all of them were stealing. The crew worked overnight to early morning, and two of them usually worked together and the other worked by himself. I first noticed one of the two that worked together picking up merchandise from the shelf, and placing it into a bag that was on the floor cleaning machine. At that point, I didn’t know if anyone else was involved, because he was by himself when he concealed the item.
I then continued watching, and saw that his counterpart was looking at clothing while working. The next night, I saw her pick up some clothing and take it into the fitting rooms. At the time, the store didn’t place security tags on clothes that fell into the price category she selected. When she came out of the fitting rooms, the clothing was nowhere to be found. I later checked the fitting rooms, and didn’t find the clothing, it’s almost like it disappeared into thin air. We did find the tags though, so I looked which types of clothing she was taking and reworked our clothing security strategy to add merchandise she was taking to the list of clothing we were protecting with Checkpoint Tags. I then installed a covert camera in area of the stockroom where the cleaning crew kept its supplies. That was the turning point in the case. Not only did I observe her remove clothing from under the clothing she was wearing and conceal it into her own purse, but I also got a better understanding of the activities of the whole crew.
The subject that I watched conceal merchandise into the bag performed that trick nightly, and he brought the concealed items back into the supply area, where he transferred the items from the bag to his pockets. Most of the merchandise he took was small electronics and clothing. I learned they were working together when they both met near the cleaning supply area and showed each other what they had taken for the night. Then to my surprise, I observed the third member of the team go to the supply area by himself, and pull food out of his pockets that he would sit and eat. I later found that he picked the food up from the sales floor while he was working, and so were the other two members. When I concluded the investigation and spoke with the associates, it turned out that the two that worked together had no idea that the third person was also stealing, and vice versa.
For more information contact us: Clothing Security or call 1.770.426.0547
