Sensormatic Labels – 3 WC Blog 787
Stop Shoplifting – 3
Utlra-Slim Sensormatic Labels – A Big Solution For Little Products
When I was a Loss Prevention Officer I hated trying to stop shoplifting when it involved small merchandise. If it could fit in the pocket of a shoplifter it was a risky decision to make if I chose to stop the crook. Small merchandise like cosmetics, bottles of medicine, batteries and even hand tools or accessories could be easily concealed in a pocket and just as easily removed from a pocket. Whether I was watching someone on closed circuit television cameras or doing a live floor observation I found it could be a pain in the neck to keep a close eye on the suspect’s hands. What compounded the problem was there was often no method of protecting these little objects from shoplifters. Sensormatic understands that these small products could present a big problem for retailers. There are now Sensormatic labels created specifically to address this concern.
Sensormatic ultra-slim EAS (electronic article surveillance) acousto-magnetic labels are small enough to fit on most of the merchandise that shoplifters tend to pocket. This is especially true for cosmetics some of which can be as slim as a pencil. When I was actively involved in Loss Prevention we did not have any tags or labels that could be used to stop shoplifting in our cosmetics department. We were forced to depend on closed circuit television and public view monitors as well as customer service to deter thieves in this area. That was just in our cosmetics department and did not include the other departments where merchandise was small enough to pocket but hard to protect as I mentioned earlier.
Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) recognizes the problem pocketable merchandise poses and the difficulty in finding adequate anti-theft devices for those items. When they learned that Sensormatic labels came in the ultra-slim size they made it a point to ensure sure their clients were made aware of it. They know the risks a Loss Prevention Officer or even a Store Manager takes when they try to stop someone they suspect of shoplifting small merchandise. Even if concealment is observed the items are so small that a suspect can discretely dump the item without being seen. Stop that person and they don’t have merchandise on their person and you open a HUGE can of worms. In fact the risk of making a bad stop on small merchandise is so great that when I was a Loss Prevention Manager our Regional Loss Prevention Manager directed that apprehensions could not be made if the suspected theft only involved cosmetics. Bad stops had become a regular issue and it was determined that the losses were not worth the time in court and the expenses involved in settling those bad cases. I should make one clarification, if a suspect was grabbing and pocketing a large quantity of cosmetics we were permitted to stop shoplifting in those situations.
While we are talking about preventing the theft of any small item I am focusing on cosmetics for two reasons. First, I have had my own share of close calls when it comes to nearly making a bad stop when I suspected someone had stolen cosmetics. Fortunately I usually thought better of it or I found dropped merchandise when I briefly lost sight of the suspect. Second, according to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer within health and beauty departments makeup products ranked second in most stolen items (fragrances came in first) (pg. 55).
There is no reason to rack up losses in small merchandise any longer. Sensormatic labels can take care of a big chunk of the theft you may be experiencing. I am not minimizing the importance of customer service in deterring criminals from shoplifting but your employees can’t be everywhere at once. Sensormatic ultra-slim EAS labels will give you the advantage you need to make an impulse shoplifter think twice before pocketing that beauty product. Don’t let little things continue to be a big problem let LPSI help you with a Sensormatic system and labels.
For more information on Sensormatic labels contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
When I was a Loss Prevention Officer I hated trying to stop shoplifting when it involved small merchandise. If it could fit in the pocket of a shoplifter it was a risky decision to make if I chose to stop the crook. Small merchandise like cosmetics, bottles of medicine, batteries and even hand tools or accessories could be easily concealed in a pocket and just as easily removed from a pocket. Whether I was watching someone on closed circuit television cameras or doing a live floor observation I found it could be a pain in the neck to keep a close eye on the suspect’s hands. What compounded the problem was there was often no method of protecting these little objects from shoplifters. Sensormatic understands that these small products could present a big problem for retailers. There are now Sensormatic labels created specifically to address this concern.
Sensormatic ultra-slim EAS (electronic article surveillance) acousto-magnetic labels are small enough to fit on most of the merchandise that shoplifters tend to pocket. This is especially true for cosmetics some of which can be as slim as a pencil. When I was actively involved in Loss Prevention we did not have any tags or labels that could be used to stop shoplifting in our cosmetics department. We were forced to depend on closed circuit television and public view monitors as well as customer service to deter thieves in this area. That was just in our cosmetics department and did not include the other departments where merchandise was small enough to pocket but hard to protect as I mentioned earlier.
Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) recognizes the problem pocketable merchandise poses and the difficulty in finding adequate anti-theft devices for those items. When they learned that Sensormatic labels came in the ultra-slim size they made it a point to ensure sure their clients were made aware of it. They know the risks a Loss Prevention Officer or even a Store Manager takes when they try to stop someone they suspect of shoplifting small merchandise. Even if concealment is observed the items are so small that a suspect can discretely dump the item without being seen. Stop that person and they don’t have merchandise on their person and you open a HUGE can of worms. In fact the risk of making a bad stop on small merchandise is so great that when I was a Loss Prevention Manager our Regional Loss Prevention Manager directed that apprehensions could not be made if the suspected theft only involved cosmetics. Bad stops had become a regular issue and it was determined that the losses were not worth the time in court and the expenses involved in settling those bad cases. I should make one clarification, if a suspect was grabbing and pocketing a large quantity of cosmetics we were permitted to stop shoplifting in those situations.
While we are talking about preventing the theft of any small item I am focusing on cosmetics for two reasons. First, I have had my own share of close calls when it comes to nearly making a bad stop when I suspected someone had stolen cosmetics. Fortunately I usually thought better of it or I found dropped merchandise when I briefly lost sight of the suspect. Second, according to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer within health and beauty departments makeup products ranked second in most stolen items (fragrances came in first) (pg. 55).
There is no reason to rack up losses in small merchandise any longer. Sensormatic labels can take care of a big chunk of the theft you may be experiencing. I am not minimizing the importance of customer service in deterring criminals from shoplifting but your employees can’t be everywhere at once. Sensormatic ultra-slim EAS labels will give you the advantage you need to make an impulse shoplifter think twice before pocketing that beauty product. Don’t let little things continue to be a big problem let LPSI help you with a Sensormatic system and labels.
For more information on Sensormatic labels, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Customer counting device – 3 WC Blog 789
People counting system-4
Improve Store Efficiency And Sales With A Customer Counting Device-Part 2
If you read the first article in this two-part series you know that I began by discussing the poor planning of tasks and assignments for the student workers we had on duty considering the lack of patron traffic in our library on a given day. It was the last day of classes for the college students and our library was very slow yet we had not planned out things we could have used our student workers to do. For a college library it was not a big problem but having been in retail management I was very aware of the negative impact this could have had if we were in a store environment. A customer counting device for a retailer would have provided a picture of what prior year shopper traffic was like and a store manager could use that information to plan for a training day, cleaning projects, etc. I then started to get into some of the other benefits a store would get by using a people counting system one of which is the ability to improve customer conversion rates.
Daily sales reads from your point of sales system only tell you a total number of transactions and sales dollars. You can even get the average dollars per transaction from your register totals. What you don’t get is data on how many people actually walked into the store and walked out without buying anything. That is a store’s conversion rate and many large chains have been measuring this for years. If you haven’t been tracking your patron headcounts you can start to do so with a customer counting device from Sensormatic. If you already have a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system they can frequently be integrated into the towers. If you are not using an electronic article surveillance system to deter shoplifting and help increase sales Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. is the go to place to get started. They can set you up with the towers and tags that will best suit your store. They have Sensormatic certified technicians to install the equipment and they offer free Loss Prevention Training for their clients who do purchase a Sensormatic system through them. I might add that if you are afraid a system would be outside your price range, Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. can help you with getting financing for a new system. I will offer one more caveat if affordability is a concern check out the Free ROI Calculator on their website…you might be surprised to learn how fast a new system can pay for itself.
I don’t want to seem like I am digressing I just get very excited about the myriad of services offered by Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. Going back to my point however, you want to know if customers are making purchases. If you can identify the times of day and days of the week most shoppers are frequenting your store you can add more payroll to those days and times. Customers will leave a store for all kinds of reasons without making a purchase. There may not be a sales person to help them, lines at the registers are too long, employees are snippy because the store is understaffed and they don’t have enough support. A people counting system can aid a store manager in ensuring adequate coverage is in the store at these peak times. More employees means more opportunities to suggestive sell or keep cash register lines moving so people don’t abandon shopping baskets and walk out empty handed.
If conversion rates are low it could also be an indicator of other problems such as a lack of merchandise on the floor. If you start using a customer counting device and find a gross imbalance between the people entering and leaving and the number of transactions it is possible you have bare shelves of high demand items. If you sell medicine and people are not finding what they need the customer won’t necessarily say anything. You may start digging and find you have theft issues, stocking problems or replenishment problems from a distributor. A people counting system won’t tell you the problem but it can help identify a problem that if corrected can improve your sales.
Not being aware of what is impacting your sales growth potential is harmful in the long-term. Allowing Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. to help you install a people counting system and understand how it works to enhance your sales should be obvious by now. Count on Sensormatic and Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. to help your business grow.
A people counting system is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
If you read the first article in this two-part series you know that I began by discussing the poor planning of tasks and assignments for the student workers we had on duty considering the lack of patron traffic in our library on a given day. It was the last day of classes for the college students and our library was very slow yet we had not planned out things we could have used our student workers to do. For a college library it was not a big problem but having been in retail management I was very aware of the negative impact this could have had if we were in a store environment. A customer counting device for a retailer would have provided a picture of what prior year shopper traffic was like and a store manager could use that information to plan for a training day, cleaning projects, etc. I then started to get into some of the other benefits a store would get by using a people counting system one of which is the ability to improve customer conversion rates.
Daily sales reads from your point of sales system only tell you a total number of transactions and sales dollars. You can even get the average dollars per transaction from your register totals. What you don’t get is data on how many people actually walked into the store and walked out without buying anything. That is a store’s conversion rate and many large chains have been measuring this for years. If you haven’t been tracking your patron headcounts you can start to do so with a customer counting device from Sensormatic. If you already have a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system they can frequently be integrated into the towers. If you are not using an electronic article surveillance system to deter shoplifting and help increase sales Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. is the go to place to get started. They can set you up with the towers and tags that will best suit your store. They have Sensormatic certified technicians to install the equipment and they offer free Loss Prevention Training for their clients who purchase a Sensormatic system through them. I might add that if you are afraid a system would be outside your price range, Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. can help you with getting financing for a new system. I will offer one more caveat if affordability is a concern check out the Free ROI Calculator on their website…you might be surprised to learn how fast a new system can pay for itself.
I don’t want to seem like I am digressing I just get very excited about the myriad of services offered by Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. Going back to my point however, you want to know if customers are making purchases. If you can identify the times of day and days of the week most shoppers are frequenting your store you can add more payroll to those days and times. Customers will leave a store for all kinds of reasons without making a purchase. There may not be a sales person to help them, lines at the registers are too long, employees are snippy because the store is understaffed and they don’t have enough support. A people counting system can aid a store manager in ensuring adequate coverage is in the store at these peak times. More employees means more opportunities to suggestive sell or keep cash register lines moving so people don’t abandon shopping baskets and walk out empty handed.
If conversion rates are low it could also be an indicator of other problems such as a lack of merchandise on the floor. If you start using a customer counting device and find a gross imbalance between the people entering and leaving and the number of transactions it is possible you have bare shelves of high demand items. If you sell medicine and people are not finding what they need the customer won’t necessarily say anything. You may start digging and find you have theft issues, stocking problems or replenishment problems from a distributor. A people counting system won’t tell you the problem but it can help identify a problem that if corrected can improve your sales.
Not being aware of what is impacting your sales growth potential is harmful in the long-term. Allowing Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. to help you install a people counting system and understand how it works to enhance your sales should be obvious by now. Count on Sensormatic and Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. to help your business grow.
A people counting system is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Stop Shoplifting –3 WC blog 812
Sensormatic System – 3
Use Caution When Responding To A Sensormatic System Alert
I believe it only makes sense for a store owner to try to stop shoplifting from happening in their store. The use of closed circuit television, public view monitors and a Sensormatic security system are the proper tools to do this. What does not make sense is asking employees to respond to electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarms and not train them first in how to do so properly. I make this observation after having just watched a video from a news story (wgno.com “How Many Times Can Shoplifters Target The Same Store In Just Two Weeks”, April 12, 2019) that showed employees trying to stop people attempting to exit their store with laundry detergent they did not pay for. The crooks can be seen walking through EAS towers at the front doors but at least in one instance an associate locked the doors so they could not exit. The lights in the tower flashed indicating the merchandise was tagged. The thieves are approached by store personnel but the approach and interaction made me nervous for the employees. As a former Loss Prevention Manager it looked ugly and it could have gotten uglier. Three different suspects all attempted to walk out with detergent. One suspect was approached by an employee who did not seem to do so safely. The video showed the employee was trying to talk the suspect into putting the detergent down but he also got into close proximity with the perpetrator and even followed him out of the store after the suspect put the merchandise down. There are times when an employee is better off calling police than putting themselves (or others) into a precarious position.
A Sensormatic system is going to deter the vast majority of your would-be shoplifters. These people come in and as soon as they see the detection towers they conclude that trying to steal from the store would be risky. Unfortunately there are other shoplifters, aggressive and potentially dangerous who steal as part of an organized crime ring or as part of a gang. It is very difficult to stop shoplifting by these criminals. In a normal situation anti-theft towers and tags deter theft and any trained employee can respond to an alarm and tactfully recover merchandise. The same is not the case with the aggressive shoplifter. It is not always clear who is going to be cooperative and who is going to become belligerent. As I watched the video clips I decided to give some quick tips on handling Sensormatic system alarms based on my training and experiences.
• When an alarm tower sounds the responding employee should approach the customer in a calm manner. Don’t look aggressive. Offering an explanation such as something must not have been deactivated helps to relax the offender.
• Never take a bag from the person. The employee should ask if they can look in the bag for something that may be causing the alarm. If the shopper does not have a shopping bag from your store or only has a purse, take the pressure off of the “customer” by suggesting they could have something from another store that was not deactivated by their employees. If merchandise belonging to your store is found offer to ring it up for them. Let them “change” their mind if they so desire and just turn over merchandise.
• As your employee interacts with the patron they should try to maintain an arm length in distance until they can determine if the person is going to be cooperative. Even if they are cooperative the employee must stay alert to the off-chance the suspect gets irritated or aggressive. If this happens disengage.
• Your workers should never block a suspect’s exit from the store or follow-them out. Yes, you want to stop shoplifting but this places the employee in a dangerous position. They never know if the suspect will push past them or knock them down to get out. Your employee also does not know who may be outside waiting for the suspect.
Make sure your staff is trained on the proper methods of EAS tower alarm response. Most times your system will deter thieves and when they choose to try anyways you can be sure that Sensormatic system tags will set off the pedestals. Done properly employees can recover tagged product without incident. It is your responsibility to keep your team safe from harm so make sure they are trained to know when it is time to leave someone alone and call the police.
A Sensormatic system is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
I believe it only makes sense for a store owner to try to stop shoplifting from happening in their store. The use of closed circuit television, public view monitors and a Sensormatic security system are the proper tools to do this. What does not make sense is asking employees to respond to electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarms and not train them first in how to do so properly. I make this observation after having just watched a video from a news story (wgno.com “How Many Times Can Shoplifters Target The Same Store In Just Two Weeks”, April 12, 2019) that showed employees trying to stop people attempting to exit their store with laundry detergent they did not pay for. The crooks can be seen walking through EAS towers at the front doors but at least in one instance an associate locked the doors so they could not exit. The lights in the tower flashed indicating the merchandise was tagged. The thieves are approached by store personnel but the approach and interaction made me nervous for the employees. As a former Loss Prevention Manager it looked ugly and it could have gotten uglier. Three different suspects all attempted to walk out with detergent. One suspect was approached by an employee who did not seem to do so safely. The video showed the employee was trying to talk the suspect into putting the detergent down but he also got into close proximity with the perpetrator and even followed him out of the store after the suspect put the merchandise down. There are times when an employee is better off calling police than putting themselves (or others) into a precarious position.
A Sensormatic system is going to deter the vast majority of your would-be shoplifters. These people come in and as soon as they see the detection towers they conclude that trying to steal from the store would be risky. Unfortunately there are other shoplifters, aggressive and potentially dangerous who steal as part of an organized crime ring or as part of a gang. It is very difficult to stop shoplifting by these criminals. In a normal situation anti-theft towers and tags deter theft and any trained employee can respond to an alarm and tactfully recover merchandise. The same is not the case with the aggressive shoplifter. It is not always clear who is going to be cooperative and who is going to become belligerent. As I watched the video clips I decided to give some quick tips on handling Sensormatic system alarms based on my training and experiences.
• When an alarm tower sounds the responding employee should approach the customer in a calm manner. Don’t look aggressive. Offering an explanation such as something must not have been deactivated helps to relax the offender.
• Never take a bag from the person. The employee should ask if they can look in the bag for something that may be causing the alarm. If the shopper does not have a shopping bag from your store or only has a purse, take the pressure off of the “customer” by suggesting they could have something from another store that was not deactivated by their employees. If merchandise belonging to your store is found offer to ring it up for them. Let them “change” their mind if they so desire and just turn over merchandise.
• As your employee interacts with the patron they should try to maintain an arm length in distance until they can determine if the person is going to be cooperative. Even if they are cooperative the employee must stay alert to the off-chance the suspect gets irritated or aggressive. If this happens disengage.
• Your workers should never block a suspect’s exit from the store or follow-them out. Yes, you want to stop shoplifting but this places the employee in a dangerous position. They never know if the suspect will push past them or knock them down to get out. Your employee also does not know who may be outside waiting for the suspect.
Make sure your staff is trained on the proper methods of EAS tower alarm response. Most times your system will deter thieves and when they choose to try anyways you can be sure that Sensormatic system tags will set off the pedestals. Done properly employees can recover tagged product without incident. It is your responsibility to keep your team safe from harm so make sure they are trained to know when it is time to leave someone alone and call the police.
A Sensormatic system is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
