Have you figured out what’s being stolen in your stores and how it’s being taken? What are you doing about it now and what will you change when the shoplifters figure out the way around that? We have a large arsenal of anti-shoplifting tactics at the company I work for now, but I’ve seen that change many times throughout all my years in retail.
First we learned to count our items and have a greater knowledge of the balance on hand. We now watch what we buy and sell more closely and compare the two figures. We’ve upgraded from having VHS recording systems in only the high theft inner city stores to DVRs in every location. The pedestals at the front doors have been upgraded to Checkpoint with the more advanced tags. Then there is my personal favorite of all, the Alpha Keepers. These things are the more valuable items in my tool-chest. They are versatile for item protection, easy for staff to use and customer friendly. If you need to step up your anti-shoplifting efforts in your business, Alpha Keepers should be near the top of your wish list.
I was in a store today that is considered a high risk location in our company. Their shrink results are notoriously bad, and the external theft is through the roof. It’s hard to retain managers and cashiers at this particular store because of the stress the shoplifters put on the staff. I was walking the store with one of the managers, and she was showing off a lot of her store’s improvements made over the past year. However, we soon came to a display that was empty except for one piece. This store has a family planning section that is in a glass case, and they are required to have a small condom section adjacent to this locked case that is accessible to customers. I asked her why the section was so empty, and she explained that those packs are stolen on average within two days of being put on display. We looked at it a moment, and I asked her what she planned to do now to reduce the theft in the section. She said she could check the section more often or better tag the boxes that she hung there. I asked her how that would really change the outcome and she didn’t have an answer. So I suggested she try to think of it a different way. These packs of condoms are the small three-pack boxes. They slip easily into someone’s pocket, and the staff has no idea who takes them. So I asked her what if she simply reduced the facings of items on this display. How about instead of twelve to fifteen items, cut it down to eight of them and put them in Alpha-Keepers. They are still visible and accessible to the customer so they meet the regulatory need, and if they are in the boxes, they do not just slip into one’s pocket very well. She looked like I had just told her the meaning of life. If your anti-shoplifting ideas stop working, you have to change them.
Eventually they’ll have to do something different at this store. The shoplifters will change their behaviors, and you have to learn to keep up with them. Take a look at your biggest opportunity and think about what you can do to make a real difference, and not just bandage your problem.
For more information contact us: Antishoplifting.net or 1.770.426.0547
Have you figured out what’s being stolen in your stores and how it’s being taken? What are you doing about it now and what will you change when the shoplifters figure out the way around that? We have a large arsenal of anti-shoplifting tactics at the company I work for now, but I’ve seen that change many times throughout all my years in retail.
First we learned to count our items and have a greater knowledge of the balance on hand. We now watch what we buy and sell more closely and compare the two figures. We’ve upgraded from having VHS recording systems in only the high theft inner city stores to DVRs in every location. The pedestals at the front doors have been upgraded to Checkpoint with the more advanced tags. Then there is my personal favorite of all, the Alpha Keepers. These things are the most valuable items in my tool-chest. They are versatile for item protection, easy for staff to use and customer friendly. If you need to step up your anti-shoplifting efforts in your business, Alpha Keepers should be near the top of your wish list.
I was in a store today that is considered a high risk location in our company. Their shrink results are notoriously bad, and the external theft is through the roof. It’s hard to retain managers and cashiers at this particular store because of the stress the shoplifters put on the staff. I was walking the store with one of the managers, and she was showing off a lot of her store’s improvements made over the past year. However, we soon came to a display that was empty except for one piece. This store has a family planning section that is in a glass case, and they are required to have a small condom section adjacent to this locked case that is accessible to customers. I asked her why the section was so empty, and she explained that those packs are stolen on average within two days of being put on display. We looked at it a moment, and I asked her what she planned to do now to reduce the theft in the section. She said she could check the section more often or better tag the boxes that she hung there. I asked her how that would really change the outcome and she didn’t have an answer. So I suggested she try to think of it a different way. These packs of condoms are the small three-pack boxes. They slip easily into someone’s pocket, and the staff has no idea who takes them. So I asked her what if she simply reduced the facings of items on this display. How about instead of twelve to fifteen items, cut it down to eight of them and put them in Alpha-Keepers. They are still visible and accessible to the customer so they meet the regulatory need, and if they are in the boxes, they do not just slip into one’s pocket very well. She looked like I had just told her the meaning of life. If your anti-shoplifting ideas stop working, you have to change them.
Eventually they’ll have to do something different at this store. The shoplifters will change their behaviors, and you have to learn to keep up with them. Take a look at your biggest opportunity and think about what you can do to make a real difference, and not just bandage your problem.
For more information contact us: Antishoplifting.net or 1.770.426.0547
Having employees that you can trust is one of the most important objectives of running a successful business. Knowing that you can count on them while they are not supervised to accomplish tasks on time, to manage your stores, and to complete projects is what keeps your business successful. Employee theft is one bad side effect of poor hiring decisions, but having an employee that isn’t trustworthy can damage your business in more ways than you might initially expect.
First of all, employees can steal. This seems like an obvious comment, and most business owners are aware of employee theft. Background screening and following up with references is the best line of defense to avoid people that will take advantage of you, but it is often overlooked. Likewise, even when hiring someone based on a trusted employee’s recommendation, they should be thoroughly screened to protect your merchandise and cash assets. It doesn’t take much time for a corrupt coworker to do some serious damage; taking a large quantity of cash and disappearing, or slowly taking merchandise here and there for just a little while. However, they can threaten more than just your inanimate assets.
Egregious employees can damage the workplace environment by stealing from their fellow associates. This type of internal theft doesn’t directly damage your profitability, but should not be scoffed at. When honest employees cannot feel like they and their belongings are safe and secure at work, they are likely to move onto another job. Not only that, but their word of mouth may have an impact on your ability to hire new talent, and even keep shoppers out of your store.
Finally, perhaps one of the worst situations to be faced with is the employee that will steal from your customers. Although it would be boldly brazen for a customer to steal physical assets from customers, some find it worth the risk to compromise customer credentials. What is being referred to here is credit card fraud and identity theft—also technically a “data breach” by the standards of some organizations.
Honestly, it can be quite easy. Employees are put into a position of trust not only by managers and business owners, but also by customers. With a trusting customer processing a transaction at your store, and a crook behind the counter, it is possible for them to write down credit card numbers, text them to sketchy friends, and attempt to use the customer’s account to fund fraudulent shopping sprees. Sound far-fetched?
There are a number of incidents with which I am personally aware involving waiters and waitresses doing that very thing when taking customers tabs to the register. A particular ring would use a skimming device that was installed into the card-swiping terminal by an employee, taking and logging credit card numbers as they were swiped. The team would then turn around and make new, fake cards with those numbers. Another woman simply swiped cards into her smart phone, using a tool anyone can buy for roughly twenty dollars at the local electronics store.
The sad fact is that it is not hard for questionable people to steal financial information from those they are serving, especially when they are put in that position of trust. That makes it all the more important to protect your customer base and your business reputation by hiring smart, and keeping internal theft, in all of its forms, out of your business.
For more information contact us: Employee Theft or call 1.770.426.0547
Having employees that you can trust is one of the most important objectives of running a successful business. Knowing that you can count on them while they are not supervised to accomplish tasks on time, to manage your stores, and to complete projects is what keeps your business successful. Employee theft is one bad side effect of poor hiring decisions, but having an employee that isn’t trustworthy can damage your business in more ways than you might initially expect.
First of all, employees can steal. This seems like an obvious comment, and most business owners are aware of employee theft. Background screening and following up with references is the best line of defense to avoid people that will take advantage of you, but it is often overlooked. Likewise, even when hiring someone based on a trusted employee’s recommendation, they should be thoroughly screened to protect your merchandise and cash assets. It doesn’t take much time for a corrupt coworker to do some serious damage; taking a large quantity of cash and disappearing, or slowly taking merchandise here and there for just a little while. However, they can threaten more than just your inanimate assets.
Egregious employees can damage the workplace environment by stealing from their fellow associates. This type of internal theft doesn’t directly damage your profitability, but should not be scoffed at. When honest employees cannot feel like they and their belongings are safe and secure at work, they are likely to move onto another job. Not only that, but their word of mouth may have an impact on your ability to hire new talent, and even keep shoppers out of your store.
Finally, perhaps one of the worst situations to be faced with is the employee that will steal from your customers. Although it would be boldly brazen for a employee to steal physical assets from customers, some find it worth the risk to compromise customer credentials. What is being referred to here is credit card fraud and identity theft—also technically a “data breach” by the standards of some organizations.
Honestly, it can be quite easy. Employees are put into a position of trust not only by managers and business owners, but also by customers. With a trusting customer processing a transaction at your store, and a crook behind the counter, it is possible for them to write down credit card numbers, text them to sketchy friends, and attempt to use the customer’s account to fund fraudulent shopping sprees. Sound far-fetched?
There are a number of incidents with which I am personally aware involving waiters and waitresses doing that very thing when taking customers tabs to the register. A particular ring would use a skimming device that was installed into the card-swiping terminal by an employee, taking and logging credit card numbers as they were swiped. The team would then turn around and make new, fake cards with those numbers. Another woman simply swiped cards into her smart phone, using a tool anyone can buy for roughly twenty dollars at the local electronics store.
The sad fact is that it is not hard for questionable people to steal financial information from those they are serving, especially when they are put in that position of trust. That makes it all the more important to protect your customer base and your business reputation by hiring smart, and keeping internal theft, in all of its forms, out of your business.
For more information contact us: Stop Employee Theft or call 1.770.426.0547
The holiday season is a wonderful time of year, especially for business owners. With the holidays comes a ton of shoppers. If you have been struggling to keep your business afloat, it is a chance to make a great profit. If you are a criminal shoplifter, it is a great time to have the odds in your favor, and lessen your chances of getting caught. It only seems fair that the odds be in favor of the house, your business, but when it comes to preventing shoplifting that isn’t necessarily the case. There are a few things you can do this holiday season to better your odds, prevent shoplifting and maintain profitability.
The first and most important thing you can do to protect your business is to secure your merchandise. Whether it is clothing, cocktails, or cardboard boxes, there is a great selection of items of Alpha Security tags, to EASy Bottles, to Alpha spider wraps. Implement these different devices by employing a consistent merchandise protection strategy. During the holidays, you probably don’t want to over-secure your stock, preventing some paying customers from buying. Ensure that you are aware of what products need the most protection. Using these security items to protect your merchandise, along with a sound and consistent protection strategy is the best first defense against theft during the fourth quarter.
Second, consider the placement of your merchandise in the store. I know that you want to entice buyers with some of your most popular items in the window. But are those popular items also popular for shoplifters? Typically, trends in shopping parallel trends in shoplifting; back to school shopping is paralleled by children’s clothing theft, summer swimsuit shopping is mimicked by bikini and board-short theft, etc. Make sure that if those items are potentially enticing to shoplifters that they are properly secured. Likewise, try to make sure that your employees will have a direct line of sight to those items from where they will be frequently working. Many retailers have merchandising associates folding clothing at the front of their shops, where they can greet customers and identify potential thieves from the get-go.
This leads to the third and final tip for preventing shoplifting during the holidays: ensure you are adequately staffed. Sure, you want to make sure that you are well staffed to meet the demands of more customers, and larger volume of stock. But being well staffed also means having more eyes to spot our possible pilferers. Couple this adequate staffing with some good loss prevention training. Whether the training be from a loss prevention seminar or from store management, training associates on what suspicious behaviors to look for will be important for protecting the store. Remember, employees can just provide great customer service statements, even to potential shoplifters, to deter them from stealing your stock.
While working loss prevention for a small clothing shop, I remember spotting two females in the back of our ladies’ department. The girls were looking at the ceiling and for anyone watching their activity, appearing very nervous. As they selected some sweaters (while looking around, and not at the sweaters), they quickly stuffed their bags. I knew they did it, but I wasn’t able to see their hands place the merchandise into their bags. I decided to offer them great customer service. I went to the area and asked if they would like me to hold those sweaters at the front for them. They declined, went around the corner, dumped the sweaters on the table, and quickly left the store.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
The holiday season is a wonderful time of year, especially for business owners. With the holidays comes a ton of shoppers. If you have been struggling to keep your business afloat, it is a chance to make a great profit. If you are a criminal shoplifter, it is a great time to have the odds in your favor, and lessen your chances of getting caught. It only seems fair that the odds be in favor of the house, your business, but when it comes to preventing shoplifting that isn’t necessarily the case. There are a few things you can do this holiday season to better your odds, prevent shoplifting and maintain profitability.
The first and most important thing you can do to protect your business is to secure your merchandise. Whether it is clothing, cocktails, or cardboard boxes, there is a great selection of items with Alpha Security. Tags, EASy Bottle, and Alpha spider wraps. Implement these different devices by employing a consistent merchandise protection strategy. During the holidays, you probably don’t want to over-secure your stock, preventing paying customers from buying. Ensure that you are aware of what products need the most protection. Using these security items to protect your merchandise, along with a sound and consistent protection strategy is the best first defense against theft during the fourth quarter.
Second, consider the placement of your merchandise in the store. I know that you want to entice buyers with some of your most popular items in the window. But are those popular items also popular for shoplifters? Typically, trends in shopping parallel trends in shoplifting; back to school shopping is paralleled by children’s clothing theft, summer swimsuit shopping is mimicked by bikini and board-short theft, etc. Make sure that if those items are potentially enticing to shoplifters that they are properly secured. Likewise, try to make sure that your employees will have a direct line of sight to those items from where they will be frequently working. Many retailers have merchandising associates folding clothing at the front of their shops, where they can greet customers and identify potential thieves from the get-go.
This leads to the third and final tip for preventing shoplifting during the holidays: ensure you are adequately staffed. Sure, you want to make sure that you are well staffed to meet the demands of more customers, and larger volume of stock. But being well staffed also means having more eyes to spot our possible pilferers. Couple this adequate staffing with some good loss prevention training. Whether the training be from a loss prevention seminar or from store management, training associates on what suspicious behaviors to look for will be important for protecting the store. Remember, employees can just provide great customer service statements, even to potential shoplifters, to deter them from stealing your stock.
While working loss prevention for a small clothing shop, I remember spotting two females in the back of our ladies’ department. The girls were looking at the ceiling and for anyone watching their activity, appearing very nervous. As they selected some sweaters (while looking around, and not at the sweaters), they quickly stuffed their bags. I knew they did it, but I wasn’t able to see their hands place the merchandise into their bags. I decided to offer them great customer service. I went to the area and asked if they would like me to hold those sweaters at the front for them. They declined, went around the corner, dumped the sweaters on the table, and quickly left the store.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
You have a great culture in your store, and a dedicated team that cares about preventing loss from happening in your store. Your employees are always on the lookout for shoplifting activity, but do they actually know what they are looking for when trying to spot a shoplifter? In order to ensure all of your employees are on the same page, it is important to conduct loss prevention training for your whole team. Regardless of how much your employees want to help you keep the products on the shelves, if they don’t know to spot the behaviors it may not be very helpful at all.
There are many things to look for when trying to spot a shoplifter. Keep in mind, there is no definitive indicator that someone is going to shoplift until you actually see them committing the theft, and just because a customer is displaying one of these examples doesn’t necessarily mean they are shoplifting.
There is an endless list of shoplifting methods that thieves will use to rip you off. I couldn’t possibly cover everything I have learned over the years in this article, but here are some red flags you can teach your team to look for: quick selection of merchandise, clothing that is out of season, and camera checking.
First off, we have quick selection. Think about when you are shopping. Do you just walk up to a display and immediately throw an item into the cart? There are obviously times when people know exactly what they want and are in and out of the store quickly, especially with grocery shopping. On the other hand, you probably wouldn’t do this when shopping for high dollar electronics. For example, if you see a store patron load up a shopping cart with a television, home theater system, and a laptop in under five minutes; that should give you a good idea that something isn’t right.
Out of season clothing is a good indicator that someone could possibly be partaking in dishonest activities. If it is 95 degrees outside and a person walks into your store wearing a big winter coat, you may want to keep an eye on them. They may be filling that coat faster than you can say sneaky scoundrel. This is an easy red flag to spot, so it would definitely be a great tip to include in your team’s loss prevention training.
Then there is camera checking, which means looking for cameras. It seems like this would be way too obvious, but it happens quite often. Some shoplifters actually look up at the cameras before, and while they are shoplifting. I’m assuming that they are attempting to figure out where the cameras are and if they are being watched, but in the process they are attracting unwanted attention.
Once again, this is in no way a complete list of potential indicators of theft. If you don’t feel that you have enough knowledge about shoplifting to provide guidance to your team, it’s a good idea to get a professional to come in and conduct a loss prevention seminar. They will also be able to help develop a training program that’s right for your specific needs.
For more information contact us: (loss prevention training) or call 1.770.426.0547
You have a great culture in your store, and a dedicated team that cares about preventing loss from happening in your store. Your employees are always on the lookout for shoplifting activity, but do they actually know what they are looking for when trying to spot a shoplifter? In order to ensure all of your employees are on the same page, it is important to conduct loss prevention training for your whole team. Regardless of how much your employees want to help you keep the products on the shelves, if they don’t know to spot the behaviors it may not be very helpful at all.
There are many things to look for when trying to spot a shoplifter. Keep in mind, there is no definitive indicator that someone is going to shoplift until you actually see them committing the theft, and just because a customer is displaying one of these examples doesn’t necessarily mean they are shoplifting.
There is an endless list of shoplifting methods that thieves will use to rip you off. I couldn’t possibly cover everything I have learned over the years in this article, but here are some red flags you can teach your team to look for: quick selection of merchandise, clothing that is out of season, and camera checking.
First off, we have quick selection. Think about when you are shopping. Do you just walk up to a display and immediately throw an item into the cart? There are obviously times when people know exactly what they want and are in and out of the store quickly, especially with grocery shopping. On the other hand, you probably wouldn’t do this when shopping for high dollar electronics. For example, if you see a store patron load up a shopping cart with a television, home theater system, and a laptop in under five minutes; that should give you a good idea that something isn’t right.
Out of season clothing is a good indicator that someone could possibly be partaking in dishonest activities. If it is 95 degrees outside and a person walks into your store wearing a big winter coat, you may want to keep an eye on them. They may be filling that coat faster than you can say sneaky scoundrel. This is an easy red flag to spot, so it would definitely be a great tip to include in your team’s loss prevention training.
Then there is camera checking, which means looking for cameras. It seems like this would be way too obvious, but it happens quite often. Some shoplifters actually look up at the cameras before, and while they are shoplifting. I’m assuming that they are attempting to figure out where the cameras are and if they are being watched, but in the process they are attracting unwanted attention.
Once again, this is in no way a complete list of potential indicators of theft. If you don’t feel that you have enough knowledge about shoplifting to provide guidance to your team, it’s a good idea to get a professional to come in and conduct a loss prevention seminar. They will also be able to help develop a training program that’s right for your specific needs.
For more information contact us: loss prevention training or call 1.770.426.0547
It is a common practice to protect your merchandise with clothing security tags to keep it out of the hands of thieves. Using electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, ink tags, and other types of checkpoint tags are the most cost-efficient ways to secure your stock. If these devices are not used properly, however, they can become more of a burden than a blessing. It is important to make sure that a sound strategy is in place when it comes to using security tags on clothes.
First, make sure that when these security tags are ordered that the quantity purchased is great enough to apply them consistently to the product that you want to protect. Many organizations that use these tags effectively do so with a sound merchandise protection strategy. If there is a particular line of clothing that you want to be secured, because of price, popularity, or for whatever reason, make sure that you have enough tags to secure them all. It may seem like an obvious point but, all too often do retailers order an incorrect number of security tags leaving them under-protected or, almost as bad, with more than they need.
Secondly, make sure that part of your merchandise protection strategy includes a specific placement technique. If the tags are placed inconsistently all over different items, it will lead to confusion for other employees when it comes time to remove them. There is little less convenient for customers than arriving at home, discovering that the clothing security tags are still on their clothes, and that they must drive all the way back to the store to have them removed in order to wear them. This could especially be a nightmare for someone shopping for an outfit intended for a special occasion, only to find the tag on right before going out! A good rule of thumb is to locate the security tags as close to the merchandise scan tags, making it more noticeable for the employee ringing it up.
Nearly just as important, make sure employees are aware of the details of the merchandise protection strategy. Firstly, this will make associates aware of what items are more likely to be stolen. More awareness amounts to better protection and theft deterrence. Secondly, employees who process returns know what merchandise needs to be protected, and how, before it returns to the sales floor. Finally, and most obviously, it will allow employees to keep customers happy, by making sure those devices are removed for paying customers.
Even with the issues that clothing security tags sometimes bring, they are well worth the small investment to protect the items from shoplifters. The damage that could be done by a few shoplifters is likely to be much greater than that of a customer who ends up at home with a checkpoint tag on their clothes when they get home. What’s more, the latter situation is easily avoided with proper training. Just remember to implement a uniform, consistent merchandise protection strategy. Ensure that all employees who handle the merchandise, from the door to the floor and even upon returns, know what the strategy is. They must know which items need to be secured, where to secure them, and with what items. This will keep your merchandise around for those who want to buy it.
For more information contact us: Clothing Security or call 1.770.426.0547
It is a common practice to protect your merchandise with clothing security tags to keep it out of the hands of thieves. Using electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, ink tags, and other types of Checkpoint tags are the most cost-efficient ways to secure your stock. If these devices are not used properly, however, they can become more of a burden than a blessing. It is important to make sure that a sound strategy is in place when it comes to using security tags on clothes.
First, make sure that when these security tags are ordered that the quantity purchased is great enough to apply them consistently to the product that you want to protect. Many organizations that use these tags effectively do so with a sound merchandise protection strategy. If there is a particular line of clothing that you want to be secured, because of price, popularity, or for whatever reason, make sure that you have enough tags to secure them all. It may seem like an obvious point but, all too often retailers order an incorrect number of security tags leaving them under-protected or, almost as bad, with more than they need.
Secondly, make sure that part of your merchandise protection strategy includes a specific placement technique. If the tags are placed inconsistently all over different items, it will lead to confusion for other employees when it comes time to remove them. There is little less convenience for customers than arriving at home, discovering that the clothing security tags are still on their clothes, and that they must drive all the way back to the store to have them removed in order to wear them. This could especially be a nightmare for someone shopping for an outfit intended for a special occasion, only to find the tag on right before going out! A good rule of thumb is to locate the security tags as close to the merchandise scan tags, making it more noticeable for the employee ringing it up.
Nearly just as important, make sure employees are aware of the details of the merchandise protection strategy. Firstly, this will make associates aware of what items are more likely to be stolen. More awareness amounts to better protection and theft deterrence. Secondly, employees who process returns know what merchandise needs to be protected, and how, before it returns to the sales floor. Finally, and most obviously, it will allow employees to keep customers happy, by making sure those devices are removed for paying customers.
Even with the issues that clothing security tags sometimes bring, they are well worth the small investment to protect the items from shoplifters. The damage that could be done by a few shoplifters is likely to be much greater than that of a customer who ends up at home with a Checkpoint tag on their clothes when they get home. What’s more, the latter situation is easily avoided with proper training. Just remember to implement a uniform, consistent merchandise protection strategy. Ensure that all employees who handle the merchandise, from the door to the floor and even upon returns, know what the strategy is. They must know which items need to be secured, where to secure them, and with what items. This will keep your merchandise around for those who want to buy it.
For more information contact us: Clothing Security or call 1.770.426.0547
