If you’ve ever shopped for clothing in a department store, you have probably found discarded tags, hangers, old clothing left behind, and other signs of theft, especially in the fitting rooms. There are so many different ways to steal anyway, and there are websites devoted to instructing would be shoplifters on the best ways to get around clothing security measures. They tell them to double up items in one another to conceal the actual number they have. One site said if you intend to steal a shirt, the shirt you wear in should have a high collar so the stolen article is harder to detect. There are instructions on where to look for hidden tags, and how to deactivate them if possible. Baby strollers, big purses, and even umbrellas are the most recommended vehicles to get things out the door.
There are several different ideas for signs posted in the vicinity of the fitting rooms. One I saw in particular stated “Please don’t use the bathroom in here”. *shudders* More typical ones simply tell the customer what they are permitted to take in with them, and limit the number of items that are allowed to be taken in. Those can be effective for your honest, cash paying customer, but they don’t really do a great job of deterring thefts.
I have seen a wide spectrum of actual clothing security for fitting room. Some stores have associates working in and around the departments only. Customers are free to try things on at will, coming and going, and don’t appear to be monitored. Some stores have people assigned solely to the task of unlocking the doors to the rooms for people, but they seldom stay around to see them exit and verify what they come out with. One store I know of has two employees stationed there to count your items, give you a card with that number on it, and verify that it matches what you exit with. This approach works well and has the potential to be a great monitoring system. Unfortunately there are times the two employees are so busy chatting with one another, they barely notice when someone comes out.
Customer service and attention from an associate is one of the best ways I have seen to really have an effect on clothing security. I went to a small store recently to get a new outfit for a job interview. The clerk came to offer assistance immediately. She stayed close by, but did not hover. I made my choices and then asked to try them on. She unlocked the door to the fitting room, and granted me access. The mirrors are on the outside of the door, so I had to come out to see how it looked. (I thought that was a great idea because the lighting was better out there, however, if I intended to conceal items under my own clothing that would have made it harder for me to check every angle to be sure they couldn’t be seen!) She came over again and checked on me. I know we all get busy and sidetracked sometimes, but the excellent customer service this woman provided was some of the best clothing security I have witnessed. Clothing is all they sell, and they do a great job of protecting their merchandise with the simplest of measures.
For more information contact us: clothingsecurity.net or call 1.770.426.0547
If you’ve ever shopped for clothing in a department store, you have probably found discarded tags, hangers, old clothing left behind, and other signs of theft, especially in the fitting rooms. There are so many different ways to steal anyway, and there are websites devoted to instructing would be shoplifters on the best ways to get around clothing security measures. They tell them to double up items in one another to conceal the actual number they have. One site said if you intend to steal a shirt, the shirt you wear in should have a high collar so the stolen article is harder to detect. There are instructions on where to look for hidden tags, and how to deactivate them if possible. Baby strollers, big purses, and even umbrellas are the most recommended vehicles to get things out the door.
There are several different ideas for signs posted in the vicinity of the fitting rooms. One I saw in particular stated “Please don’t use the bathroom in here”. *shudders* More typical ones simply tell the customer what they are permitted to take in with them, and limit the number of items that are allowed to be taken in. Those can be effective for your honest, cash paying customer, but they don’t really do a great job of deterring thefts.
I have seen a wide spectrum of actual clothing security for fitting rooms. Some stores have associates working in and around the departments only. Customers are free to try things on at will, coming and going, and don’t appear to be monitored. Some stores have people assigned solely to the task of unlocking the doors to the fitting rooms for people, but they seldom stay around to see them exit and verify what they come out with. One store I know of has two employees stationed there to count your items, give you a card with that number on it, and verify that it matches what you exit with. This approach works well and has the potential to be a great monitoring system. Unfortunately there are times the two employees are so busy chatting with one another, they barely notice when someone comes out.
Customer service and attention from an associate is one of the best ways I have seen to really have an effect on clothing security. I went to a small store recently to get a new outfit for a job interview. The clerk came to offer assistance immediately. She stayed close by, but did not hover. I made my choices and then asked to try them on. She unlocked the door to the fitting room, and granted me access. The mirrors are on the outside of the door, so I had to come out to see how it looked. (I thought that was a great idea because the lighting was better out there, however, if I intended to conceal items under my own clothing that would have made it harder for me to check every angle to be sure they couldn’t be seen!) She came over again and checked on me. I know we all get busy and sidetracked sometimes, but the excellent customer service this woman provided was some of the best clothing security I have witnessed. Clothing is all they sell, and they do a great job of protecting their merchandise with the simplest of measures.
For more information contact us: Clothing Security or call 1.770.426.0547
Whether you are just starting to research Bottle Loks, or if you have already made the decision to begin using them, you will to choose which wines and spirits you plan to use the devices on. You can make the choice based on highest retail alone, but those bottles may or may not be the ones you would most likely to lose to theft. You can base the choice on the popularity of the items, and which brands or blends are trending at the time. However you choose which bottles or brands to protect, just don’t be afraid to change it up if you start seeing shrink in the section. All product protection methods have to be monitored for effectiveness, and follow up is a major key to protecting your assets.
If your location is in a high foot traffic area, you may have to deal with teenagers coming in and slipping bottles into backpacks or even into their clothing. In a location like that, especially in an inner city setting, you could have issues with the homeless, which have a higher occurrence of substance abuse. In both of those situations, you will start seeing particular items being stolen, mostly one at a time. Adding Bottle Loks to these will be very effective because of the fear of the alarms going off at the door if they try to exit with a concealed bottle.
If you are in a location that is close to interstates and other big highways, you have to be looking more at professional shoplifters and burglaries after your business is closed. In these cases, you need to know what is trending, and what is likely being shipped out of state and bought on the black market. Putting Bottle Loks on these items will lower the chances of your business being hit. Professional shoplifters prefer items with no protection. They know these have to be cleaned by having the anti-theft devices removed, resulting in less money for them. If they know you incorporate Bottle Loks in your business, professionals may choose your competition instead. Unfortunately, there may not be a lot you can do to deter a burglary. If you have video surveillance, make sure you system is maintained and operating at peak performance. Definitely have it posted that you are recording, and your cameras should be visible. You want to make them choose to break in another store.
Bottle Loks are a great theft deterrent for wines and spirits. Your business has to pay all the taxes and fees associated with these products, so you should be able to reap the benefit of the profits as well. Keep more inventory on your shelves and available for your honest customers, and make it obvious to the would-be thieves that you are serious about protecting your investment.
For more information contact us: Bottlelock.net or call 1.770.426.0547
Whether you are just starting to research Bottle Loks, or if you have already made the decision to begin using them, you will to choose which wines and spirits you plan to use the devices on. You can make the choice based on highest retail alone, but those bottles may or may not be the ones you would most likely to lose to theft. You can base the choice on the popularity of the items, and which brands or blends are trending at the time. However you choose which bottles or brands to protect, just don’t be afraid to change it up if you start seeing shrink in the section. All product protection methods have to be monitored for effectiveness, and follow up is a major key to protecting your assets.
If your location is in a high foot traffic area, you may have to deal with teenagers coming in and slipping bottles into backpacks or even into their clothing. In a location like that, especially in an inner city setting, you could have issues with the homeless, which have a higher occurrence of substance abuse. In both of those situations, you will start seeing particular items being stolen, mostly one at a time. Adding Bottle Loks to these will be very effective because of the fear of the alarms going off at the door if they try to exit with a concealed bottle.
If you are in a location that is close to interstates and other big highways, you have to be looking more at professional shoplifters and burglaries after your business is closed. In these cases, you need to know what is trending, and what is likely being shipped out of state and bought on the black market. Putting Bottle Loks on these items will lower the chances of your business being hit. Professional shoplifters prefer items with no protection. They know these have to be clean by having the anti-theft devices removed, resulting in less money for them. If they know you incorporate Bottle Loks in your business, professionals may choose your competition instead. Unfortunately, there may not be a lot you can do to deter a burglary. If you have video surveillance, make sure you system is maintained and operating at peak performance. Definitely have it posted that you are recording, and your cameras should be visible. You want to make them choose to break in another store.
Bottle Loks are a great theft deterrent for wines and spirits. Your business has to pay all the taxes and fees associated with these products, so you should be able to reap the benefit of the profits as well. Keep more inventory on your shelves and available for your honest customers, and make it obvious to the would-be thieves that you are serious about protecting your investment.
For more information contact us Bottlelock.net or call 1.770.426.0547
Three months. In these next three months, chances are, your business will either make a profit for the year, or stay in the red. These three months are the most crucial months for any business and it revolves mostly on how well you do during the holiday shopping season. That means being front and center with the hottest new items and the best deals. There are people who will camp out all night long (we know the ones), just to be first in line on Black Friday. You owe it to these hardcore fans to have the product in stock and available for them to purchase. Working in retail, theft prevention often comes as an afterthought during this time of the year.
Last year, some of our buyers made a last minute (and I mean, a really last minute) purchase of some GPS units. These units normally retail for around three hundred dollars, but each store received a split on a PDQ that retailed for $49. It was one heck of a deal, but it also attracted nearly every shoplifter in the area. Our stores were set up with a checkpoint security system, but the buying team didn’t consider shrink at all when this purchase was made. That’s about normal for this time of the year. All they cared about was getting that hot product to the stores and selling the mess out of them. The problem of course, was if the product isn’t there to sell, you clearly can’t make a profit.
Over the course of a 3 week period of time, I watched as my stores lost thousands of dollars in these GPS units. They were not secured in any way, and there wasn’t much that could be done. Shrink, at this point, was largely ignored. There were a million other things going on in the store that needed to be dealt with. It wasn’t until after the holiday season was over and we took inventory, was the real problem seen. After my group of stores conducted their inventory, there was significant loss in this product category. So much so that it wasn’t profitable. The buyers spent company money to get these items into the store and we didn’t sell enough to recoup that cost.
Fast forward 10 months. My stores are starting to receive holiday shipments as the stores are gearing up for another 4th quarter push. To my surprise and dismay, another dipaly unit of electronics arrives at the store, completely unsecured. I can’t believe that we didn’t learn our lesson from last year. I needed to make a decision and I didn’t have time to wait for approval from the corporate office. I went to the stock room at my office store and quickly found a few bins of checkpoint labels. These worked in conjunction with the checkpoint security system already installed in the store. I found an easy way to apply the tags and instructed all of my stores to do so. Problem solved, almost.
By the end of the season, I knew we had lost units to shoplifting and I was eager to see the inventory numbers. Surprisingly, there was a much higher reduction in shrink than I anticipated. Those simple checkpoint labels had worked wonders. It didn’t stop theft completely, but it slowed it down to a point where the losses were acceptable. This information was eventually shared with our buyers, who quickly learned how effective the labels were. They eventually saw our point of view and now, any electronic device that comes into the store is secured with an anti-shoplifting device. It’s a simple step any retailer can take to minimize losses.
For more information, contact us: anti-shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Three months. In these next three months, chances are, your business will either make a profit for the year, or stay in the red. These three months are the most crucial months for any business and it revolves mostly on how well you do during the holiday shopping season. That means being front and center with the hottest new items and the best deals. There are people who will camp out all night long (we know the ones), just to be first in line on Black Friday. You owe it to these hardcore fans to have the product in stock and available for them to purchase. Working in retail, theft prevention often comes as an afterthought during this time of the year.
Last year, some of our buyers made a last minute (and I mean, a really last minute) purchase of some GPS units. These units normally retail for around three hundred dollars, but each store received a split on a PDQ that retailed for $49. It was one heck of a deal, but it also attracted nearly every shoplifter in the area. Our stores are set up with a Checkpoint Security System, but the buying team didn’t consider shrink at all when this purchase was made. That’s about normal for this time of the year. All they cared about was getting that hot product to the stores and selling the mess out of them. The problem of course, was if the product isn’t there to sell, you clearly can’t make a profit.
Over the course of a 3 week period of time, I watched as my stores lost thousands of dollars in these GPS units. They were not secured in any way, and there wasn’t much that could be done. Shrink, at this point, was largely ignored. There were a million other things going on in the store that needed to be dealt with. It wasn’t until after the holiday season was over and we took inventory, was the real problem seen. After my group of stores conducted their inventory, there was significant loss in this product category. So much so that it wasn’t profitable. The buyers spent company money to get these items into the store and we didn’t sell enough to recoup that cost.
Fast forward 10 months. My stores are starting to receive holiday shipments as the stores are gearing up for another 4th quarter push. To my surprise and dismay, another dipaly unit of electronics arrives at the store, completely unsecured. I can’t believe that we didn’t learn our lesson from last year. I needed to make a decision and I didn’t have time to wait for approval from the corporate office. I went to the stock room at my office store and quickly found a few bins of Checkpoint Labels. These worked in conjunction with the Checkpoint Security System already installed in the store. I found an easy way to apply the labels and instructed all of my stores to do so. Problem solved, almost.
By the end of the season, I knew we had lost units to shoplifting and I was eager to see the inventory numbers. Surprisingly, there was a much higher reduction in shrink than I anticipated. Those simple Checkpoint Labels had worked wonders. It didn’t stop theft completely, but it slowed it down to a point where the losses were acceptable. This information was eventually shared with our buyers, who quickly learned how effective the labels were. They eventually saw our point of view and now, any electronic device that comes into the store is secured with an anti-shoplifting device. It’s a simple step any retailer can take to minimize losses.
For more information, contact us: anti-shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Have you ever wished that you could see what your employees are up to when you leave the building? Although they are probably not jumping off the walls and running amok like you would imagine, their productivity is likely not as good as if you were in the store. Remote surveillance is a game changer in retail loss prevention. It allows you to monitor any of the cameras in your business in real time, from anywhere. This can be a great tool in the battle to stop employee theft, and will provide a great return on investment with the time and money you save during your investigations.
Here is what you need to get started. You need to have your cameras connected to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) that has remote monitoring capabilities, internet, and a computer or smartphone. If you already have a DVR that you purchased within the past few years, you may want to check and see if it already has remote capabilities, as most DVRs now come with this feature. I have actually worked at stores where the team had no idea that their existing system had an option to connect to their network to view video remotely.
In employee theft investigations, time can be everything. Just imagine you have a cashier that you suspect is taking money out of the register. You leave work for the day to go home, but they are still at the store just waiting for you to leave so they can help themselves to your hard earned profits. If you have a standard DVR, you can’t review the video footage until you return to work the next morning. This doesn’t exactly allow you to sleep comfortably at night. Even if you go in the next morning and spot the theft on the recorded video, it doesn’t guarantee that the subject of the internal theft will return to work after they have made off with your cash.
The beauty of remote surveillance is that you can leave work and still know exactly what is happening in your store. You can go home with peace of mind, knowing that you can watch the video live while you relax in your favorite recliner with some coffee. This way, if you observe that cashier with their paws on your money, you can make the decision to immediately respond to the store to interview the cashier or be prepared to deal with the employee theft the next morning.
Technology has grown leaps and bounds in loss prevention in recent years, and the solution you have been looking for could be the technology that allows you to use remote surveillance when working your internal theft cases. In addition to being a great resource for employee theft investigations, you can also observe your employees productivity and check in to see what kind of customer traffic you have in the store at different times of the day. This can be very helpful when trying to determine the best times to schedule your employees. If you get a rush of customers at a certain times, you will be able to schedule you team according to the times you are doing the most business.
For more information contact us: (employee theft) or call 1.770.426.0547
Have you ever wished that you could see what your employees are up to when you leave the building? Although they are probably not jumping off the walls and running amok like you would imagine, their productivity is likely not as good as if you were in the store. Remote surveillance is a game changer in retail loss prevention. It allows you to monitor any of the cameras in your business in real time, from anywhere. This can be a great tool in the battle to stop employee theft, and will provide a great return on investment with the time and money you save during your investigations.
Here is what you need to get started. You need to have your cameras connected to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) that has remote monitoring capabilities, internet, and a computer or smartphone. If you already have a DVR that you purchased within the past few years, you may want to check and see if it already has remote capabilities, as most DVRs now come with this feature. I have actually worked at stores where the team had no idea that their existing system had an option to connect to their network to view video remotely.
In employee theft investigations, time can be everything. Just imagine you have a cashier that you suspect is taking money out of the register. You leave work for the day to go home, but they are still at the store just waiting for you to leave so they can help themselves to your hard earned profits. If you have a standard DVR, you can’t review the video footage until you return to work the next morning. This doesn’t exactly allow you to sleep comfortably at night. Even if you go in the next morning and spot the theft on the recorded video, it doesn’t guarantee that the subject of the internal theft will return to work after they have made off with your cash.
The beauty of remote surveillance is that you can leave work and still know exactly what is happening in your store. You can go home with peace of mind, knowing that you can watch the video live while you relax in your favorite recliner with some coffee. This way, if you observe that cashier with their paws on your money, you can make the decision to immediately respond to the store to interview the cashier or be prepared to deal with the employee theft the next morning.
Technology has grown leaps and bounds in loss prevention in recent years, and the solution you have been looking for could be the technology that allows you to use remote surveillance when working your internal theft cases. In addition to being a great resource for employee theft investigations, you can also observe your employees productivity and check in to see what kind of customer traffic you have in the store at different times of the day. This can be very helpful when trying to determine the best times to schedule your employees. If you get a rush of customers at a certain times, you will be able to schedule your team according to the times you are doing the most business.
For more information contact us: Stop Employee Theft or call 1.770.426.0547
If you read part one of this two-part blog series, you know that shoplifters are as varied in appearance as the contents of a cornucopia (even more-so). You are also familiar with the story of the pregnant woman who stole the shoes from the store after asking for help from a store employee. This second part of this brief blog series is to finish telling the story by dissecting it and analyzing a couple of the behaviors that this woman displayed that allowed us to catch her in the act and to prevent shoplifting once again.
The first suspicious behavior that caught my eye was her quickness. I don’t mean that because she was walking quickly that I knew she would steal. What I mean is that when she decided to start “shopping” she acted far from the normal shopper. Normal shoppers take their time when looking at merchandise. They pick up items, examine them carefully, usually look at their price and maybe size, and if they meet that person’s particular criteria, they will select the item. The pregnant woman walked up to the shoe box, pulled it off of the shelf, and moved right along. This was highly suspicious.
Secondly, the pregnant woman started looking in all directions but down. Next time you see people shopping in a store, pay attention to where their eyes and heads are. They are faced toward the merchandise they are trying to buy! People shopping don’t gaze over their shoulders or at the ceiling. When people do this, they are typically looking out for people and surveillance cameras. This was another bright red flag that something wasn’t right and that we were going to have to prevent shoplifting that night.
She went into a dark, secluded corner. Shoplifters don’t want to be seen committing the act—it means they are likely to get caught. Being in a dark, secluded corner is the perfect place to slip merchandise into a shopping bag, purse, waistline, baby stroller, or shopping cart! Normal shoppers browse the merchandise where it is displayed. They have no need to take the item away from where it is supposed to be, unless they are heading to a register. When you combine this behavior with the previous two, your odds that the subject is thinking about shoplifting are extremely high.
The next part isn’t always typical for a shoplifter. Many times, they will avoid any contact with employees, especially if the shoplifter is an amateur. The pregnant woman went to ask an employee a question. What people say to store employees can be considered verbal behaviors that should be carefully considered. For example, a customer asking for a fitting room with clothing in hand seems to be legitimate. However, when the customer says something like this woman did, (“Where is the register closest to an exit? Don’t worry, I’m pregnant. It’s not like I would steal or anything…”), it should be blatantly obvious that something isn’t right. Normal customers don’t even think about shoplifting. What’s more, it is obvious that the shoplifter was trying to mask her intentions with a blatant lie.
At this point, it should be painfully clear that this individual is not in the store to be a paying customer. They are there to take what they can without paying, and to not get caught. Remember, thieves come in all shapes, sizes, and gestational status. Train your employees to look out for strange behaviors, and to address them appropriately.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
If you read part one of this two-part blog series, you know that shoplifters are as varied in appearance as the contents of a cornucopia (even more-so). You are also familiar with the story of the pregnant woman who stole the shoes from the store after asking for help from a store employee. This second part of this brief blog series is to finish telling the story by dissecting it and analyzing a couple of the behaviors that this woman displayed that allowed us to catch her in the act and to prevent shoplifting once again.
The first suspicious behavior that caught my eye was her quickness. I don’t mean that because she was walking quickly that I knew she would steal. What I mean is that when she decided to start “shopping” she acted far from the normal shopper. Normal shoppers take their time when looking at merchandise. They pick up items, examine them carefully, usually look at their price and maybe size, and if they meet that person’s particular criteria, they will select the item. The pregnant woman walked up to the shoe box, pulled it off of the shelf, and moved right along. This was highly suspicious.
Secondly, the pregnant woman started looking in all directions but down. Next time you see people shopping in a store, pay attention to where their eyes and heads are. They are faced toward the merchandise they are trying to buy! People shopping don’t gaze over their shoulders or at the ceiling. When people do this, they are typically looking out for people and surveillance cameras. This was another bright red flag that something wasn’t right and that we were going to have to prevent shoplifting that night.
She went into a dark, secluded corner. Shoplifters don’t want to be seen committing the act—it means they are likely to get caught. Being in a dark, secluded corner is the perfect place to slip merchandise into a shopping bag, purse, waistline, baby stroller, or shopping cart! Normal shoppers browse the merchandise where it is displayed. They have no need to take the item away from where it is supposed to be, unless they are heading to a register. When you combine this behavior with the previous two, your odds that the subject is thinking about shoplifting are extremely high.
The next part isn’t always typical for a shoplifter. Many times, they will avoid any contact with employees, especially if the shoplifter is an amateur. The pregnant woman went to ask an employee a question. What people say to store employees can be considered verbal behaviors that should be carefully considered. For example, a customer asking for a fitting room with clothing in hand seems to be legitimate. However, when the customer says something like this woman did, (“Where is the register closest to an exit? Don’t worry, I’m pregnant. It’s not like I would steal or anything…”), it should be blatantly obvious that something isn’t right. Normal customers don’t even think about shoplifting. What’s more, it is obvious that the shoplifter was trying to mask her intentions with a blatant lie.
At this point, it should be painfully clear that this individual is not in the store to be a paying customer. They are there to take what they can without paying, and to not get caught. Remember, thieves come in all shapes, sizes, and gestational status. Train your employees to look out for strange behaviors, and to address them appropriately.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
