I’ve been in Retail Loss Prevention and retail as a whole for nearly 27 years. During that time I have obviously been involved in many efforts to prevent shoplifting from implementing merchandise protection strategies that use retail anti-theft devices like an Alpha Hang Tag to following and actually catching shoplifters. Over that time I found I changed how I dealt with the people I caught stealing from the stores I was working at. As a young man, even with my military experience, I probably was a bit more aggressive than I needed to be in some of my apprehensions. I didn’t yell or holler often, but in some instances I was a little meaner than I needed to be and that is the point of this article. Do you catch shoplifters, do you deter them and how do you deal with the people if you DO catch them shoplifting from your store?
Before I delve into that conversation I think it is important to discuss what I mean by merchandise protection strategies. Basically every store, regardless of how small or large, should have a merchandise protection plan in place. Is the store going to use lock-up cases or retail anti-theft devices like the electronic article surveillance (EAS) Alpha Hang Tag? The devices work with (EAS) radio frequency pedestals. They can be wraps, hard tags or cables that secure merchandise and prevent theft while allowing customers to walk around the store with the merchandise. As an example I already referenced, the Alpha Hang Tag has two pieces that clip together to reinforce packaging hang tabs and blister pack tabs. Merchandise can no longer be cut from locking peghooks and the EAS protection ensures an alarm will sound at the EAS towers if a thief tries to conceal merchandise and sneak it out the doors. Is the store going to install a closed circuit television system to record potential high theft areas? Perhaps cctv will be used to record cash registers to monitor for internal theft. All of these things need to be considered in a strategy plan to reduce merchandise shortage and improve profitability.
So to return to my point, if you are deciding if you are going to stop shoplifters (or maybe you already do) or have managers or a Loss Prevention Associate detain shoplifters how do you handle them? First, you have to be careful to remember that each situation is different. You must be ready to adapt to the person and how they respond when you stop them. When I started out in the business I was firm with everyone, I wasn’t rude, but I was not friendly with the suspect either. Over the years I modified my approach somewhat, taking into account the situation, the number of people I was dealing with and watching for reaction signals from shoplifters. I learned that the teenager who was alone might be much more compliant with my requests than the teenager with a group of friends. Frequently pulling someone out of a group causes that person to want to show off and present a “tough” image for their friends. That well-dressed “business” man or woman may very well be quiet and not want to be noticed or they may be the person that starts screaming and yelling and acting out in an attempt to embarrass you and hoping that you will back down. I learned over time that sometimes being friendly is a good way to disarm a tense situation. While a Loss Prevention Associate should always identify who they are when the stop someone, a manager can just say hello and offer their first name. Don’t forget, the shoplifter is always on edge when they approach the doors so the shock of being stopped amps up an already tense situation. Using a friendly approach can take the tension down a notch. It may get you your merchandise back even if the suspect chooses to run.
Maybe you are leaning more towards a deterrence approach to prevent shoplifting. Retail anti-theft devices and a prolific number of employees to provide customer service may be your answer to reduce shortage. CCTV cameras and public view monitors can add an additional layer of security so criminals are less inclined to steal.
For those business owners leaning towards the possibility of apprehending shoplifters, in Part 2 of this series I discuss some tips you will want to consider. Theft is not a joke and stopping thieves is serious business. Consider all the facts and consider consulting with Loss Prevention System Inc. Professionals who can provide training seminars that might help in your decision.
Need information on how to prevent shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I’ve been in Retail Loss Prevention and retail as a whole for nearly 27 years. During that time I have obviously been involved in many efforts to prevent shoplifting from implementing merchandise protection strategies that use retail anti-theft devices like an Alpha Hang Tag to following and actually catching shoplifters. Over that time I found I changed how I dealt with the people I caught stealing from the stores I was working at. As a young man, even with my military experience, I probably was a bit more aggressive than I needed to be in some of my apprehensions. I didn’t yell or holler often, but in some instances I was a little meaner than I needed to be and that is the point of this article. Do you catch shoplifters, do you deter them and how do you deal with the people if you DO catch them shoplifting from your store?
Before I delve into that conversation I think it is important to discuss what I mean by merchandise protection strategies. Basically every store, regardless of how small or large, should have a merchandise protection plan in place. Is the store going to use lock-up cases or retail anti-theft devices like the electronic article surveillance (EAS) Alpha Hang Tag? The devices work with (EAS) radio frequency pedestals. They can be wraps, hard tags or cables that secure merchandise and prevent theft while allowing customers to walk around the store with the merchandise. As an example I already referenced, the Alpha Hang Tag has two pieces that clip together to reinforce packaging hang tabs and blister pack tabs. Merchandise can no longer be cut from locking peghooks and the EAS protection ensures an alarm will sound at the EAS towers if a thief tries to conceal merchandise and sneak it out the doors. Is the store going to install a closed circuit television system to record potential high theft areas? Perhaps cctv will be used to record cash registers to monitor for internal theft. All of these things need to be considered in a strategy plan to reduce merchandise shortage and improve profitability.
So to return to my point, if you are deciding if you are going to stop shoplifters (or maybe you already do) or have managers or a Loss Prevention Associate detain shoplifters how do you handle them? First, you have to be careful to remember that each situation is different. You must be ready to adapt to the person and how they respond when you stop them. When I started out in the business I was firm with everyone, I wasn’t rude, but I was not friendly with the suspect either. Over the years I modified my approach somewhat, taking into account the situation, the number of people I was dealing with and watching for reaction signals from shoplifters. I learned that the teenager who was alone might be much more compliant with my requests than the teenager with a group of friends. Frequently pulling someone out of a group causes that person to want to show off and present a “tough” image for their friends. That well-dressed “business” man or woman may very well be quiet and not want to be noticed or they may be the person that starts screaming and yelling and acting out in an attempt to embarrass you and hoping that you will back down. I learned over time that sometimes being friendly is a good way to disarm a tense situation. While a Loss Prevention Associate should always identify who they are when the stop someone, a manager can just say hello and offer their first name. Don’t forget, the shoplifter is always on edge when they approach the doors so the shock of being stopped amps up an already tense situation. Using a friendly approach can take the tension down a notch. It may get you your merchandise back even if the suspect chooses to run.
Maybe you are leaning more towards a deterrence approach to prevent shoplifting. Retail anti-theft devices and a prolific number of employees to provide customer service may be your answer to reduce shortage. CCTV cameras and public view monitors can add an additional layer of security so criminals are less inclined to steal.
For those business owners leaning towards the possibility of apprehending shoplifters, in Part 2 of this series I discuss some tips you will want to consider. Theft is not a joke and stopping thieves is serious business. Consider all the facts and consider consulting with Loss Prevention System Inc. Professionals who can provide training seminars that might help in your decision.
Need information on how to prevent shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
You’re going about your daily routine running your store, you’re on the salesfloor working to fill merchandise out of stocks on the floor, or you happen to be at the checkout lanes helping the customers and then IT happens! That’s right the power goes out to the store. I live and work in a beach/tourist area and for whatever reason we regularly get hit with some nasty late afternoon storms and sure enough power is bound to go out around here. We also have issues with power poles jumping into the path of oncoming vehicles with the result that power will go out for an entire block…or two or three or more. Stupid power poles! Anyways, I had one incident when I worked for a big box retailer that our power unexpectedly went out to our building. Normally this type of issue would be no longer than a couple of hours in duration and power would be restored and we would be back to full operations. During this particular incident our building ended up being without power for at least 5 hours. The upside was that we had emergency power through a natural gas operated emergency generator. The downside? Only limited systems were functional, that meant we were conducting business with barebones service. As the Loss Prevention Manager I had a number of concerns to deal with from a security and safety perspective. With the electronic article surveillance system not operating to read Checkpoint tags, how was I going to stop shoplifting? My closed circuit television was not on the emergency power so CCTV was out as well. Without an emergency action plan I would have been scrambling but we did have one and we were prepared.
Electronic article surveillance pedestals are part of a retail anti-theft system that can detect Checkpoint tags which operate using radio frequency waves to create a signal between the pedestals and the tags. Parts of a system include the tags which may be hard tags or labels, pedestals which, by the way, require power to operate and deactivation units at points of sale also requiring power. Deactivation units “turn off” soft Checkpoint tags so they don’t activate the electronic article surveillance pedestals at the doors when a customer leaves with paid merchandise. Hard tags don’t de-tune so they have to be removed at the point of sale. This is why hard tagged merchandise stop shoplifting, because they cause the alarm system to activate a loud alert noise and flashing lights that alert employees to the attempted theft.
Because the power was out I did reference our safety action plans and partnered with the Manager on Duty to make sure proper notifications were made and prioritize what needed to be done. Safety for customers and employees became my first concern. The store was operating on emergency lighting which meant we had dark areas of the store. Because scan guns could not pick operate on the store computer systems all “tasks” were suspended on the salesfloor except for some straightening. Employees were fully focused on customer service, walking up and down aisles, assisting at the fitting room and keeping an eye out for potential theft and safety concerns. Two-way radios worked so Loss Prevention staff switched to the store radio frequency in case we were needed somewhere. My plainclothes officer donned a “security” labeled jacket so customers would know who he was. Since the electronic article surveillance system was out of service and Checkpoint tags would not set off the alarm, I needed to stop shoplifting while addressing store safety so I stationed one L.P. member at the doors to conduct receipt checks and I assisted there while being available to assist with L.O.D. duties.
Guess what else doesn’t work when power goes out? Powered entry doors don’t work. Lighting was poor so many people were driving past the building thinking we were closed. We propped open the doors and I had a store employee stand outside to assure people that the store was open for business. Yes, the number of available checklanes was cut in half due to the outage and lines formed up but we were able to process customers so sales were only minimally impacted.
What do you do for power outages? Do you close your store? Do you wring your hands and worry or do you pull out a safety action plan? Have a plan and a back-up generator in place and though you may not be able to power an electronic article surveillance system you can still drive sales and use customer service to stop shoplifting.
Need information on electronic article surveillance? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
