Sometimes it can feel like no matter what measures you take to prevent shoplifting, the thieves just keep coming. You can’t let that feeling stop you from keeping up with merchandise protection in your store. There’s not much you can do to stop shoplifters from coming into your store. You could try putting a sign outside that says “no shoplifters allowed”, but I would be that the sign itself would get stolen within a week. What you can do is everything possible to keep them from stealing once they are inside the store, which includes using retail anti-theft devices and providing great customer service.
I remember a time I watched a guy walk into the store with a huge coat on, and head straight for the jewelry area. It was very hot outside, so the jacket was a good indicator that something was going to happen. No one that worked in the jewelry department was in the area at the time, which was a big mistake. Keeping high theft areas staffed is crucial if you want to prevent shoplifting. The guy started looking up at the ceiling and directly at the cameras, so I had a good idea of what was going to happen next.
He started looking in the showcases and attempted to reach behind the counter to open the large glass showcases. This attempt was unsuccessful, so he started to look at the spinning jewelry showcases or spinners that were on top of the counters. I was about to learn that these spinners were not as secure as we though they were. He then squeezed his fingers into the side of the spinner’s door, and knocked jewelry off of the fixture that they were hanging on inside the spinner. The spinner cases were locked, but there was just enough flexibility in the doors for this to be accomplished. After that, the guy pulled the jewelry out of the showcase and put it right into his pockets.
As if that wasn’t enough, he decided it was a good idea to go to other departments and take other merchandise as well. At this point, his jacket had visibly grown even larger in size as he continued to conceal merchandise into it. He finally decided to leave the store, and of course he ran when I tried to talk to him. Thankfully, law enforcement was able to catch him down the street, and I recovered all of the merchandise.
Needless to say, after that experience we reinforced the jewelry spinner cases and added additional hinges, locks and blocked the open spaces. We also put an Alpha Jewel Lok on each of the more expensive pieces of jewelry that were inside the case. You may think that this was overkill, but it worked very well. If thieves attempted to pull the jewelry through the spinner doors again, the Alpha Jewel Lok would stop it from happening, because it is too large to be pulled through a small opening. If by chance they were able to remove the jewelry from the case, they would still have the extra measure of the retail anti-theft devices attached to the merchandise, so the alarm would go off at the door if they were brave enough to attempt to leave with the jewelry.
For more information contact us: (prevent shoplifting) or call 1.770.426.0547
Sometimes it can feel like no matter what measures you take to prevent shoplifting, the thieves just keep coming. You can’t let that feeling stop you from keeping up with merchandise protection in your store. There’s not much you can do to stop shoplifters from coming into your store. You could try putting a sign outside that says “no shoplifters allowed”, but I would bet that the sign itself would get stolen within a week. What you can do is everything possible to keep them from stealing once they are inside the store, which includes using retail anti-theft devices and providing great customer service.
I remember a time I watched a guy walk into the store with a huge coat on, and head straight for the jewelry area. It was very hot outside, so the jacket was a good indicator that something was going to happen. No one that worked in the jewelry department was in the area at the time, which was a big mistake. Keeping high theft areas staffed is crucial if you want to prevent shoplifting. The guy started looking up at the ceiling and directly at the cameras, so I had a good idea of what was going to happen next.
He started looking in the showcases and attempted to reach behind the counter to open the large glass showcases. This attempt was unsuccessful, so he started to look at the spinning jewelry showcases or spinners that were on top of the counters. I was about to learn that these spinners were not as secure as we thought they were. He then squeezed his fingers into the side of the spinner’s door, and knocked jewelry off of the fixture that they were hanging on inside the spinner. The spinner cases were locked, but there was just enough flexibility in the doors for this to be accomplished. After that, the guy pulled the jewelry out of the showcase and put it right into his pockets.
As if that wasn’t enough, he decided it was a good idea to go to other departments and take other merchandise as well. At this point, his jacket had visibly grown even larger in size as he continued to conceal merchandise into it. He finally decided to leave the store, and of course he ran when I tried to talk to him. Thankfully, law enforcement was able to catch him down the street, and I recovered all of the merchandise.
Needless to say, after that experience we reinforced the jewelry spinner cases and added additional hinges, locks and blocked the open spaces. We also put an Alpha Jewel Lok on each of the more expensive pieces of jewelry that were inside the case. You may think that this was overkill, but it worked very well. If thieves attempted to pull the jewelry through the spinner doors again, the Alpha Jewel Lok would stop it from happening, because it is too large to be pulled through a small opening. If by chance they were able to remove the jewelry from the case, they would still have the extra measure of the retail anti-theft devices attached to the merchandise, so the alarm would go off at the door if they were brave enough to attempt to leave with the jewelry.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
THINK CHEESE WHEN APPLYING YOUR NEXT EAS LABEL
If someone asked you what you thought was the most commonly stolen item in the world was, what would you respond with? The newest smartphone, perhaps? Maybe razor blades, or baby formula? Those were some of my top answers until I recently read an article that said that worldwide, cheese was in fact the most commonly stolen item worldwide. When’s the last time you’ve seen an EAS label on a block of cheese?
Walk into any gourmet grocery store and you may find yourself realizing why cheese makes the top of the list. I am not a cheese whiz, but spend a few minutes in this section of your favorite grocery store and you’ll undoubtedly be met with some sticker shock! I was an LP manager for a higher end grocery chain for a few years and I can tell you that for the longest time, these products were not protected by any type of EAS label.
I can remember scratching my head on a weekly basis at the losses in this area. I was convinced that something was wrong with our inventory system that it kept showing hundreds of dollars in lost cheese every month. It was cheese! I didn’t think too much of this at first and so there they sat. $30, $40 and even $60 blocks of cheese just out in the open. The whole time, I was being targeted almost daily. Sure, a checkpoint label could have solved this problem, but at the time, I didn’t think I was dealing with a theft issue.
It wasn’t until I hired a new agent for the store. One of my more tenured agents had decided to move on and I ended up recruiting a new agent from a competitor across town. Within just a few days, he was already making a name for himself in the store. He was busting 3 or 4 people a day. What I noticed right away from his reports was that at least once or twice a week, he was stopping someone who had stolen cheese. I thought to myself that it was probably a good time to look into EAS labels then.
After a few more weeks and seeing even more shoplifters get busted for stealing my cheese, I decided to use some checkpoint label to cut down on the theft. Great thing about using these labels was they didn’t interfere with the product at all, they’re completely consumer safe and they are a great physical deterrent. Now, if you wanted to steal that wedge of cheese, you’d have to remove it from the packaging and then conceal it on you somewhere; something that most thieves don’t plan on doing, thus cutting down on the theft. The checkpoint labels were an eventual success, although my agent was disappointed since his cheese stats suffered!
For more information, contact us: checkpoint labels, or call 1.770.426.0547
If someone asked you what you thought was the most commonly stolen item in the world was, what would you respond with? The newest smartphone, perhaps? Maybe razor blades, or baby formula? Those were some of my top answers until I recently read an article that said that worldwide, cheese was in fact the most commonly stolen item worldwide. When’s the last time you’ve seen an EAS label on a block of cheese?
Walk into any gourmet grocery store and you may find yourself realizing why cheese makes the top of the list. I am not a cheese whiz, but spend a few minutes in this section of your favorite grocery store and you’ll undoubtedly be met with some sticker shock! I was an LP manager for a higher end grocery chain for a few years and I can tell you that for the longest time, these products were not protected by any type of EAS label.
I can remember scratching my head on a weekly basis at the losses in this area. I was convinced that something was wrong with our inventory system that it kept showing hundreds of dollars in lost cheese every month. It was cheese! I didn’t think too much of this at first and so there they sat. $30, $40 and even $60 blocks of cheese just out in the open. The whole time, I was being targeted almost daily. Sure, a checkpoint label could have solved this problem, but at the time, I didn’t think I was dealing with a theft issue.
It wasn’t until I hired a new agent for the store. One of my more tenured agents had decided to move on and I ended up recruiting a new agent from a competitor across town. Within just a few days, he was already making a name for himself in the store. He was busting 3 or 4 people a day. What I noticed right away from his reports was that at least once or twice a week, he was stopping someone who had stolen cheese. I thought to myself that it was probably a good time to look into EAS labels then.
After a few more weeks and seeing even more shoplifters get busted for stealing my cheese, I decided to use some checkpoint label to cut down on the theft. Great thing about using these labels was they didn’t interfere with the product at all, they’re completely consumer safe and they are a great physical deterrent. Now, if you wanted to steal that wedge of cheese, you’d have to remove it from the packaging and then conceal it on you somewhere; something that most thieves don’t plan on doing, thus cutting down on the theft. The checkpoint labels were an eventual success, although my agent was disappointed since his cheese stats suffered!
For more information, contact us: checkpoint labels, or call 1.770.426.0547
Welcome back to my ultimate guide to clothing security! If you recall our last segment, we talked about how a few merchandising tricks can stop shoplifters from raking in your profits. I’d like to continue that here but focus a little more on one area of the store where I KNOW you are losing money to thieves, your fitting room. I can see you cringe through my keyboard at the mere mention of that area. I’ve been in the LP world for 10 years now and I still hate the fitting room… You can’t have cameras, chances are you can’t have it staffed constantly and you don’t want to ruin your legitimate shoppers experience by making them feel like they are a thief. So what are you supposed to do?
Good clothing security starts with a solid fitting room program. I’ve worked in big box retailers, specialty stores and for very small companies. All of them have had the same downfall with their fitting rooms. There was never a solid program in place. While each of these companies focused on using clothing security tags, a proper fitting room program was overlooked. I always said if I owned my own store one day, I would have a fitting room that would see zero losses!
First things first. If you are one of those retailers that places a clothing security tag remover back here, get rid of it right now. Seriously. Stop reading, go take it down and come back. I’ll wait….. I know why some of you do it. If you have that customer that is spending $500 on a single article of clothing, you want to provide them with the ability to try it on and not wait for an employee to run to the front of the store, then back to the fitting room. I get it, trust me. Also trust when I say the thieves know what stores have this, and will exploit it every single day of the week. Clothing security really starts here. You never, ever want to make it that easy for a shoplifter.
Second, have a policy and stick to it. If you want your fitting rooms manned by an employee all hours of the day, then schedule for it. Don’t have that employee off in another part of the store if it’s slow. All it takes is 1 minute for a shoplifter to drop in, see that it’s unattended and hit you for thousands. You can have the best clothing security tag on the market, but an unattended fitting room will get you every time. Also, make your fitting room policies known with in store signage. Make sure your customer’s understand that there is a limit (whatever you want it to be) of what can be taken into the stall. Signage in the fitting room that speaks to the prosecution of shoplifters should also be in every stall.
While no one has one program that is the end all-be all to fitting rooms, I’d like to know the differences there are out there. Drop a line in the contact section if you have some suggestions on fitting room controls. I’d be curious to see how the small apparel stores handle things. As I close out the fitting room portion of this series, it brings me straight to the next segment on organized retail theft, and how no matter how great your controls are, you can still find yourself the victim. I hope you come back for part 3 as I discuss that very topic.
For more information, contact us: Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547
Welcome back to my ultimate guide to clothing security! If you recall our last segment, we talked about how a few merchandising tricks can stop shoplifters from raking in your profits. I’d like to continue that here but focus a little more on one area of the store where I KNOW you are losing money to thieves, your fitting room. I can see you cringe through my keyboard at the mere mention of that area. I’ve been in the LP world for 10 years now and I still hate the fitting room… You can’t have cameras, chances are you can’t have it staffed constantly and you don’t want to ruin your legitimate shoppers experience by making them feel like they are a thief. So what are you supposed to do?
Good clothing security starts with a solid fitting room program. I’ve worked in big box retailers, specialty stores and for very small companies. All of them have had the same downfall with their fitting rooms. There was never a solid program in place. While each of these companies focused on using clothing security tags, a proper fitting room program was overlooked. I always said if I owned my own store one day, I would have a fitting room that would see zero losses!
First things first. If you are one of those retailers that places a clothing security tag remover back here, get rid of it right now. Seriously. Stop reading, go take it down and come back. I’ll wait….. I know why some of you do it. If you have that customer that is spending $500 on a single article of clothing, you want to provide them with the ability to try it on and not wait for an employee to run to the front of the store, then back to the fitting room. I get it, trust me. Also trust when I say the thieves know what stores have this, and will exploit it every single day of the week. Clothing security really starts here. You never, ever want to make it that easy for a shoplifter.
Second, have a policy and stick to it. If you want your fitting rooms manned by an employee all hours of the day, then schedule for it. Don’t have that employee off in another part of the store if it’s slow. All it takes is one minute for a shoplifter to drop in, see that it’s unattended and hit you for thousands. You can have the best clothing security tag on the market, but an unattended fitting room will get you every time. Also, make your fitting room policies known with in store signage. Make sure your customer’s understand that there is a limit (whatever you want it to be) of what can be taken into the stall. Signage in the fitting room that speaks to the prosecution of shoplifters should also be in every stall.
While no one has one program that is the end all-be all to fitting rooms, I’d like to know the differences there are out there. Drop a line in the contact section if you have some suggestions on fitting room controls. I’d be curious to see how the small apparel stores handle things. As I close out the fitting room portion of this series, it brings me straight to the next segment on organized retail theft, and how no matter how great your controls are, you can still find yourself the victim. I hope you come back for part three as I discuss that very topic.
For more information, contact us at Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547
