5 REASONS TO NOT USE ALPHA KEEPERS
Reason #5 – You Have a Unwavering Right to Freshness.
That’s right. This is America and you are entitled to so many things, chief amongst them is the right to freshness. If you want some perfume or cologne, you go out and buy it. If you don’t have any money (or maybe you have money and just don’t want to spend it), you steal it. If you’re a store that sells what I need to stay fresh, I can’t steal from you if your protect fragrance with some sort of security non-sense. You wouldn’t stifle my right to free speech, so don’t try to limit my ability to steal some cologne with your Alpha Keeper madness!
Reason #4 – You Owe Your Employees a Freebie Once in a While.
A paycheck and steady income is not enough these days. Your employees have a right to steal from you, whether you like it or not. You can’t possibly think you can limit their financial gains, can you? One of the best gifts you can get yourself is some cologne or perfume. As a retailer, you need to allow your employees to just take whatever they want, whenever they want it. Don’t you even think about using alpha keepers for those pricey bottles of smell good solution? That would just stop your employees from stealing it! What’s even worse is if they can’t steal it from you, they just might quit and go to another company where it’s easier to steal!
Reason #3 – Can You Really Trust Something That Can be Reused?
Look, there really has to be a “one and done” mentality when it comes to ways to protect fragrance. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust anything that doesn’t break the first time I use it. Are Alpha Keepers made of some sort of governmentally created super plastic? Do you really want something that durable and long-lasting in your store? Who knows what’s really inside. I’d much rather just place my stock of cologne and perfume on the shelf and rely solely on the honor system than to use an Alpha Keeper that’s going to give me a return on investment.
Reason #2 – You Actually Want a Small Percentage of Criminals in Your Store for Street Credit.
Everyone knows that if you want higher foot traffic, you have to get celebrities, professional athletes and other infamous figures to get caught shop(lifting) in your store. Just think about what Winona did for 5th Avenue stock! Wouldn’t you want that kind of exposure in your store? Wouldn’t it be great for sales if Christina came in one day and just boosted the mess out of her perfume line? You’re not going to get the attention you deserve if you do something crazy like protect fragrance with some simple security measure.
Reason #1 – It’s Too Hard and Time Consuming to Use Simple Plastic Boxes
Seriously though. What do you really expect out of your team? Can you really expect them to go through the arduous task of opening an Alpha Keeper, placing the fragrance in the box and then putting it all the way back on the shelf every single time? That’s like three whole steps that will probably take AT LEAST 15 seconds. People have lives and can’t be bothered with such routine tasks in the work place, no matter how much money it could save you. Your employees have better things to do, like check their social media accounts and hold long personal conversations with other employees. I mean it is your fault anyway if fragrances are stolen; you’re the one that made the decision to carry a high theft item, not them, right?
For more information about Alpha Keepers, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Reason #5 – You Have a Unwavering Right to Freshness.
That’s right. This is America and you are entitled to so many things, chief amongst them is the right to freshness. If you want some perfume or cologne, you go out and buy it. If you don’t have any money (or maybe you have money and just don’t want to spend it), you steal it. If you’re a store that sells what I need to stay fresh, I can’t steal from you if your protect fragrance with some sort of security non-sense. You wouldn’t stifle my right to free speech, so don’t try to limit my ability to steal some cologne with your Alpha Keeper madness!
Reason #4 – You Owe Your Employees a Freebie Once in a While.
A paycheck and steady income is not enough these days. Your employees have a right to steal from you, whether you like it or not. You can’t possibly think you can limit their financial gains, can you? One of the best gifts you can get yourself is some cologne or perfume. As a retailer, you need to allow your employees to just take whatever they want, whenever they want it. Don’t you even think about using alpha keepers for those pricey bottles of smell good solution? That would just stop your employees from stealing it! What’s even worse is if they can’t steal it from you, they just might quit and go to another company where it’s easier to steal!
Reason #3 – Can You Really Trust Something That Can be Reused?
Look, there really has to be a “one and done” mentality when it comes to ways to protect fragrance. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust anything that doesn’t break the first time I use it. Are Alpha Keepers made of some sort of governmentally created super plastic? Do you really want something that durable and long-lasting in your store? Who knows what’s really inside. I’d much rather just place my stock of cologne and perfume on the shelf and rely solely on the honor system than to use an Alpha Keeper that’s going to give me a return on investment.
Reason #2 – You Actually Want a Small Percentage of Criminals in Your Store for Street Credit.
Everyone knows that if you want higher foot traffic, you have to get celebrities, professional athletes and other infamous figures to get caught shop(lifting) in your store. Just think about what Winona did for 5th Avenue stock! Wouldn’t you want that kind of exposure in your store? Wouldn’t it be great for sales if Christina came in one day and just boosted the mess out of her perfume line? You’re not going to get the attention you deserve if you do something crazy like protect fragrance with some simple security measure.
Reason #1 – It’s Too Hard and Time Consuming to Use Simple Plastic Boxes
Seriously though. What do you really expect out of your team? Can you really expect them to go through the arduous task of opening an Alpha Keeper, placing the fragrance in the box and then putting it all the way back on the shelf every single time? That’s like three whole steps that will probably take AT LEAST 15 seconds. People have lives and can’t be bothered with such routine tasks in the work place, no matter how much money it could save you. Your employees have better things to do, like check their social media accounts and hold long personal conversations with other employees. I mean it is your fault anyway if fragrances are stolen; you’re the one that made the decision to carry a high theft item, not them, right?
For more information about Alpha Keepers, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Checkpoint Security System-4 WC Blog 309
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A Checkpoint System Delivers Shortage Reduction And Increased Sales Simultaneously
I recently read an article that made me want to shout “HALLELUJAH!” The article was discussing the suggestion some make that they can cover store merchandise shrinkage with increased sales. The writer did not discount the value of increasing sales to reduce the impact of shortage, but he made several cogent points that I found myself nodding in agreement to. In the article, “Relying on Sales Won’t Eliminate Causes of Shrinkage”, by Adam Smith, CFE, CFI, dated Feb 16, 2017 in LPMINSIDER magazine, Mr. Smith uses an illustration of a store with $1 million dollars in sales and a 2% shrinkage as a percent to sales. He demonstrates how an increase in sales does in fact reduce shrink, but likewise a store with declining sales sees an increase in shrink. A little further in the article he points out that it took “a 9% sales increase to break a .1% reduction in shrink” (emphasis mine). His overall point is that there has to be balance between increasing sales and a continued focus on shortage reduction. I agree with a strategy of driving sales and improving shrinkage and I would argue that stores can impact both when they invest in a Checkpoint Security System.
Retail theft prevention includes the deterrence of employee theft and efforts to stop shoplifting. A Checkpoint Security System involves the use of Checkpoint tags on products making it clear to would-be thieves that attempting to take an item will cause an alarm at a Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) tower near the front doors of a store. Since store associates are generally responsible for more theft than shoplifters, the tags act as a deterrent to them as much as they do to shoplifters. The EAS towers activate a loud alarm signal and flashing lights when Checkpoint tags are carried close to them. This alarm provides warning to sales associates that an attempt to steal may be in process and they can conduct receipt checks to recover merchandise before it is walked out the door. In this way they do stop shoplifting and demonstrate to criminals that the store takes theft seriously.
A Checkpoint security system is as much a sales driver as it is a reducer of shrink. Often stores lock up merchandise in display cases or reduce quantities of merchandise on a store shelf and it does work. It is more difficult to steal merchandise when it is in a showcase and limiting quantities on a shelf does reduce how much can be stolen at one time, however I can tell you from experience neither one will completely stop shoplifting or employee theft. It also hinders the customer’s access to merchandise and therefore has a negative impact on sales. Customers don’t want to wait for employees to come to their assistance to open a display case in order to browse merchandise. Often it is annoying to have to point to something, ask to look at it, then have it put back so you can look at the next item. Usually retailers allow no more than two items out of a lockup case at any given time so it is a back and forth game. When that locked up merchandise can be protected with retail theft prevention tags and devices and removed from a lock up display customers can browse at their convenience and carry items with them while they continue to shop. When they are ready they check out without waiting for an associate to bring an item to the checkout counter.
Reduced merchandise facings or quantities to deter theft can also limit the customer who may want more of an item but chooses not to look for help. Few people will wander through a store to find assistance to find out if there is more of an item in a stockroom. Today’s consumer tends to want in and out of a store in a hurry and has little patience for waiting. If the consumer sees they have picked up the last item, even if they wanted another they don’t wait to see if someone will check on it for them and the store loses that sale.
A Checkpoint Security System can stop shoplifting from taking place and reduce shortage in the process. Checkpoint tags can give you confidence to fill the salesfloor, improve store in-stocks and make merchandise accessible, leading to increased sales and profit.
Get more information on Checkpoint Systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I recently read an article that made me want to shout “HALLELUJAH!” The article was discussing the suggestion some make that they can cover store merchandise shrinkage with increased sales. The writer did not discount the value of increasing sales to reduce the impact of shortage, but he made several cogent points that I found myself nodding in agreement to. In the article, “Relying on Sales Won’t Eliminate Causes of Shrinkage”, by Adam Smith, CFE, CFI, dated Feb 16, 2017 in LPMINSIDER magazine, Mr. Smith uses an illustration of a store with $1 million dollars in sales and a 2% shrinkage as a percent to sales. He demonstrates how an increase in sales does in fact reduce shrink, but likewise a store with declining sales sees an increase in shrink. A little further in the article he points out that it took “a 9% sales increase to break a .1% reduction in shrink” (emphasis mine). His overall point is that there has to be balance between increasing sales and a continued focus on shortage reduction. I agree with a strategy of driving sales and improving shrinkage and I would argue that stores can impact both when they invest in a Checkpoint Security System.
Retail theft prevention includes the deterrence of employee theft and efforts to stop shoplifting. A Checkpoint Security System involves the use of Checkpoint tags on products making it clear to would-be thieves that attempting to take an item will cause an alarm at a Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) tower near the front doors of a store. Since store associates are generally responsible for more theft than shoplifters, the tags act as a deterrent to them as much as they do to shoplifters. The EAS towers activate a loud alarm signal and flashing lights when Checkpoint tags are carried close to them. This alarm provides warning to sales associates that an attempt to steal may be in process and they can conduct receipt checks to recover merchandise before it is walked out the door. In this way they do stop shoplifting and demonstrate to criminals that the store takes theft seriously.
A Checkpoint security system is as much a sales driver as it is a reducer of shrink. Often stores lock up merchandise in display cases or reduce quantities of merchandise on a store shelf and it does work. It is more difficult to steal merchandise when it is in a showcase and limiting quantities on a shelf does reduce how much can be stolen at one time, however I can tell you from experience neither one will completely stop shoplifting or employee theft. It also hinders the customer’s access to merchandise and therefore has a negative impact on sales. Customers don’t want to wait for employees to come to their assistance to open a display case in order to browse merchandise. Often it is annoying to have to point to something, ask to look at it, then have it put back so you can look at the next item. Usually retailers allow no more than two items out of a lockup case at any given time so it is a back and forth game. When that locked up merchandise can be protected with retail theft prevention tags and devices and removed from a lock up display customers can browse at their convenience and carry items with them while they continue to shop. When they are ready they check out without waiting for an associate to bring an item to the checkout counter.
Reduced merchandise facings or quantities to deter theft can also limit the customer who may want more of an item but chooses not to look for help. Few people will wander through a store to find assistance to find out if there is more of an item in a stockroom. Today’s consumer tends to want in and out of a store in a hurry and has little patience for waiting. If the consumer sees they have picked up the last item, even if they wanted another they don’t wait to see if someone will check on it for them and the store loses that sale.
A Checkpoint Security System can stop shoplifting from taking place and reduce shortage in the process. Checkpoint tags can give you confidence to fill the salesfloor, improve store in-stocks and make merchandise accessible, leading to increased sales and profit.
Get more information on Checkpoint Systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I don’t purchase a lot of clothes online because I have difficulty finding the right sizes for the person I am buying for. Clothes sizes tend to vary by manufacturers so there is not always a uniform consistency. I recognize that my preferences are not necessarily representative of the public in general as more and more online only stores open up, selling merchandise over the internet versus in brick and mortar locations. This does open up some concerns over the issue of wardrobing. How difficult is it for online stores to control potential fraudulent returns due to wardrobing? I ask this because stores will be conducting inventories over the coming months and in the process, will have to account for all aspects of shortage. Online stores may not have a shoplifting issue, but they do have to contend with internal theft and the possibility of fraudulent returns and that is where the use of Alpha Shark Tags can be helpful.
Wardrobing isn’t necessarily a common term but it is a type of return fraud and does impact a store’s profits. The issue arises when someone buys an article of clothing, wears it a time or two, then returns it to the store with tags intact and a legitimate receipt and the buyer gets their money back. The purchaser hides the hang tags or removes the tags carefully, and replaces them when they are ready to return the garment. Since all the required items are present many stores will give the promised refund if the customer is not satisfied. The problem for a store owner or manager is that frequently this used merchandise cannot be sold again at the original price for which it was sold. There are frequently odors of food or perfume on the clothing, food or drink stains, possibly cigarette smells or even makeup stains that won’t entirely come out. This means destroying the item and maybe getting a partial credit from the manufacturer, if any credit at all. The store loses profit, if not gross margin.
Alpha Shark Tags effectively eliminate return fraud because if an item is returned with the Shark tag removed, the store turns down the refund. “How does this work?” you may ask. Alpha Shark Tags can only be attached to a clothing item once. The only method to remove it is to cut the tag off. Once removed, the store should already have a policy in place that explains that when a garment is returned and the tag has been cut-off it will not be accepted for a refund or exchange. The person who engages in wardrobing can hide manufacturer tags but there is no hiding a brightly colored Alpha Shark Tag. These tags are placed on a garment in a very visible location. When placed properly, the tag will be seen when the “customer” wears the item in public thereby defeating the method of fraud.
The question arises, “What am I supposed to do if I buy something and try it on and it doesn’t fit or it was a gift and the person I bought it for doesn’t like it?” There is no problem created for the purchaser when the item does not fit or is simply not what a gift recipient wanted. As long as the tag is still intact the item can be returned with the proper receipt information. The tag also has no effect on how a garment fits so the item can be tried on and the wearer will know if it is the proper size. The clothing can be returned to the online store and refunded and the store will be able to repackage and sell the item as new, a win-win for both parties.
Return fraud does impact profits and hurts inventory. It doesn’t matter whether the store is a walk-in building or an online entity wardrobing hurts the bottom line of both. Use Alpha Shark Tags and begin improving your next inventory today!
Wardrobing is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
