Stop Shoplifting – 4 WC Blog 634
Employee theft reduction training-3
With The Increase In Aggression Should Retailers Try To Stop Shoplifting?
With all of the recent stories on aggressive shoplifters, it is fair to ask if it makes sense to try to stop shoplifting. Preventing theft has to be a focus of store owners and managers. When store shortage on average is 1.33% and approximately 35.7% of that shrinkage is due to shoplifting, it only makes sense to try to stop it. According to the 2018 National Retail Security Survey, page 5, “Shoplifting has again surpassed employee theft as the leading cause of shrink for the fourth year in a row.” Think about what this means, more than one third of all of the losses your store is experiencing is caused by criminals walking in and taking your merchandise without paying for it. This leaves store owners with the following alternatives; allow theft to continue unabated, raise prices on merchandise to make up for the losses or teach staff how to prevent shoplifting through employee theft reduction training. The only solution that makes any real sense is to train employees and here are my reasons for it.
• If you allow theft to continue and make no effort to combat it, thieves will take advantage of your store. When an easy target is identified crooks will return to it because the rewards far outweigh the risks to them personally.
• Doing nothing to deter or stop shoplifting is an invitation to other more serious crime. Don’t think that word doesn’t spread in the criminal community about locations that are easy pickings. It may begin with shoplifting but it is not unheard of that car break-ins, robberies, purse snatchings and assaults creep in these places over time.
• When criminal activity grows around a store or a mall customers will stop shopping there. This in turn leads to reduced sales and at some point if sales go too low shops close up their doors…permanently.
• Increasing prices to make up for shortage rather than addressing root causes hurts customers not the thieves. Clients may be willing to spend a bit more cash for merchandise in a store with great customer service or a pleasant shopping atmosphere. Increasing prices too much and regardless of how wonderful service is, shoppers will eventually revolt and take their money elsewhere.
Ignoring shoplifting is not going to make it go away and worse, it may discourage customers from shopping in your store(s).
The concern that is then placed in front of store owners is how to address shoplifting if doing so is a potentially dangerous prospect due to violent offenders. The first thing that responsible business owners MUST do is provide employee theft reduction training to their workers. Employees are the first line of defense against criminal activity. That greeting and eye contact go a lot further than you may think in stopping a crook from snatching your merchandise. Additionally small things such as how to talk to a customer and how NOT to talk to them can make a difference in theft prevention. Is it the job of an employee to “identify” who may or may not be a criminal? To keep staff members safe while improving sales and driving out theft related shortage stores need to invest in training by a company that “has been there and done that.” Loss Prevention Systems Inc. CEO, Bill Bregar has put together that training program. As a Director of Loss Prevention for national retail companies Bill used his experience to design a program that is guaranteed to bring results and keep employees safe. As a Loss Prevention professional with years of experience training employees and teaching them how to stay safe, I have seen the training offered and I am totally impressed.
Installation of closed circuit television cameras, public view monitors, and retail anti-theft devices are all pieces of a shortage prevention strategy that owners should consider to stop shoplifting. Unfortunately none of these pieces guarantees the safety of store workers. Employee theft reduction training is the one thing that owners can do to add safety as well as security to their stores. Remember, when employees feel they have the tools to stay safe and still deter theft they are going to be willing to offer customer service that will also enhance sales. That is a winning combination for you and your team.
For more information on employee theft reduction training contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
With all of the recent stories on aggressive shoplifters, it is fair to ask if it makes sense to try to stop shoplifting. Preventing theft has to be a focus of store owners and managers. When store shortage on average is 1.33% and approximately 35.7% of that shrinkage is due to shoplifting, it only makes sense to try to stop it. According to the 2018 National Retail Security Survey, page 5, “Shoplifting has again surpassed employee theft as the leading cause of shrink for the fourth year in a row.” Think about what this means, more than one third of all of the losses your store is experiencing is caused by criminals walking in and taking your merchandise without paying for it. This leaves store owners with the following alternatives; allow theft to continue unabated, raise prices on merchandise to make up for the losses or teach staff how to prevent shoplifting through employee theft reduction training. The only solution that makes any real sense is to train employees and here are my reasons for it.
• If you allow theft to continue and make no effort to combat it, thieves will take advantage of your store. When an easy target is identified crooks will return to it because the rewards far outweigh the risks to them personally.
• Doing nothing to deter or stop shoplifting is an invitation to other more serious crime. Don’t think that word doesn’t spread in the criminal community about locations that are easy pickings. It may begin with shoplifting but it is not unheard of that car break-ins, robberies, purse snatchings and assaults creep in these places over time.
• When criminal activity grows around a store or a mall customers will stop shopping there. This in turn leads to reduced sales and at some point if sales go too low shops close up their doors…permanently.
• Increasing prices to make up for shortage rather than addressing root causes hurts customers not the thieves. Clients may be willing to spend a bit more cash for merchandise in a store with great customer service or a pleasant shopping atmosphere. Increasing prices too much and regardless of how wonderful service is, shoppers will eventually revolt and take their money elsewhere.Ignoring shoplifting is not going to make it go away and worse, it may discourage customers from shopping in your store(s).
The concern that is then placed in front of store owners is how to address shoplifting if doing so is a potentially dangerous prospect due to violent offenders. The first thing that responsible business owners MUST do is provide employee theft reduction training to their workers. Employees are the first line of defense against criminal activity. That greeting and eye contact go a lot further than you may think in stopping a crook from snatching your merchandise. Additionally small things such as how to talk to a customer and how NOT to talk to them can make a difference in theft prevention. Is it the job of an employee to “identify” who may or may not be a criminal? To keep staff members safe while improving sales and driving out theft related shortage stores need to invest in training by a company that “has been there and done that.” Loss Prevention Systems Inc. CEO, Bill Bregar has put together that training program. As a Director of Loss Prevention for national retail companies Bill used his experience to design a program that is guaranteed to bring results and keep employees safe. As a Loss Prevention professional with years of experience training employees and teaching them how to stay safe, I have seen the training offered and I am totally impressed.
Installation of closed circuit television cameras, public view monitors, and retail anti-theft devices are all pieces of a shortage prevention strategy that owners should consider to stop shoplifting. Unfortunately none of these pieces guarantees the safety of store workers. Employee theft reduction training is the one thing that owners can do to add safety as well as security to their stores. Remember, when employees feel they have the tools to stay safe and still deter theft they are going to be willing to offer customer service that will also enhance sales. That is a winning combination for you and your team.
For more information on employee theft reduction training, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Stop shoplifting-3 WC Blog 656
Electronic Article Surveillance-4
Sensormatic Labels-3
Group Theft Can Be Prevented With The Help Of Sensormatic Labels
I remember the days when I was a Loss Prevention Officer and had to make choices on how to stop shoplifting by a group that was working together. The decisions were never easy. I had to consider if I had a partner working with me or was I alone that shift. If I was alone, did I have a manager working on whom I could depend to at least call the police for me or did I have a less than reliable manager on duty? If I was working alone I had to decide how I was going to approach the group when I was ready to stop them. These may not seem like hard choices but there were all kinds of consequences and unforeseen outcomes that could occur if I was not careful. In fact when watching a group I even had to decide who the main actor was and determine if THAT was going to be the one to maintain surveillance on. Once concealment began I had to stick with one person to watch especially if the group split up. When it comes to Retail Loss Prevention store owners have choices to make also and they aren’t always easy.
Do you, the store owner have a Loss Prevention program in place? Is it effective and what does it consist of in terms of people, equipment, theft deterrence, etc.? Who in your store knows your plan or what their role if any is to stop shoplifting? Allow me to pause for a moment and say this if you don’t have an electronic article surveillance system as part of your anti-theft strategy you need one (another choice to make, right?). Most people are familiar with these systems so I won’t belabor that point. What I will comment on is there are a number of systems on the market and finding one that is effective and has a variety of tags and labels available is important. Sensormatic labels and tags along with their electronic article surveillance towers fits that bill. They offer both radio frequency labels and acoustic magnetic tags that protect a wide range of merchandise and packaging materials. As someone who has tagged more items than he cares to remember I can vouch for the fact that having multiple tags and styles is vital for an effective security plan. Different products have different security needs and one size does not fit all. I’m going to tag a package of gum with a different device than a pair of shoes.
More likely than not, there is a store manager reading this who is thinking that they don’t need an electronic article surveillance system. They feel that their employees offer customer service and that is enough to prevent theft. As someone who has been in Loss Prevention for many years I am going to say that train of thought is flawed. The groups I was dealing with were astute in how they would commit their crimes. If they noticed that employees were providing customer service they would split up. Divide the store team and someone is going to get free to conceal merchandise. It was hard in a big box store to cover everyone, for a small or medium size retailer you will probably not have the personnel to match up one for one. Once your team is divided your store becomes free game. A force multiplier for YOU is to use Sensormatic labels to protect your merchandise and the towers at the front doors to alarm if a criminal tries to sneak goods out of the store.
In the department store I worked for as a Loss Prevention Officer we had multiple exits, I could never cover them all on my own or with a partner. BUT in the big box stores I worked for we had one entry/exit point and a single employee could respond to an electronic article surveillance alarm quickly and effectively. In a store with this equipment set up your team can offer the best customer service possible to deter shoplifters. But tagging merchandise and having one person near the front doors able to answer alarms means you don’t have to be concerned if you can’t keep up with every member of a suspicious party of customers.
You have decisions to make on how to stop shoplifting in your store(s) to stay profitable. With so many day to day managerial responsibilities to attend to this doesn’t need to be a difficult one to make. Tag merchandise with Sensormatic labels and add Sensormatic towers at your entrances and exits and you will see an immediate impact on theft reduction in your store. Multiply the impact of your customer service with Sensormatic.
Sensormatic labels are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
I remember the days when I was a Loss Prevention Officer and had to make choices on how to stop shoplifting by a group that was working together. The decisions were never easy. I had to consider if I had a partner working with me or was I alone that shift. If I was alone, did I have a manager working on whom I could depend to at least call the police for me or did I have a less than reliable manager on duty? If I was working alone I had to decide how I was going to approach the group when I was ready to stop them. These may not seem like hard choices but there were all kinds of consequences and unforeseen outcomes that could occur if I was not careful. In fact when watching a group I even had to decide who the main actor was and determine if THAT was going to be the one to maintain surveillance on. Once concealment began I had to stick with one person to watch especially if the group split up. When it comes to Retail Loss Prevention store owners have choices to make also and they aren’t always easy.
Do you, the store owner have a Loss Prevention program in place? Is it effective and what does it consist of in terms of people, equipment, theft deterrence, etc.? Who in your store knows your plan or what their role if any is to stop shoplifting? Allow me to pause for a moment and say this if you don’t have an electronic article surveillance system as part of your anti-theft strategy you need one (another choice to make, right?). Most people are familiar with these systems so I won’t belabor that point. What I will comment on is there are a number of systems on the market and finding one that is effective and has a variety of tags and labels available is important. Sensormatic labels and tags along with their electronic article surveillance towers fits that bill. They offer both radio frequency labels and acoustic magnetic tags that protect a wide range of merchandise and packaging materials. As someone who has tagged more items than he cares to remember I can vouch for the fact that having multiple tags and styles is vital for an effective security plan. Different products have different security needs and one size does not fit all. I’m going to tag a package of gum with a different device than a pair of shoes.
More likely than not, there is a store manager reading this who is thinking that they don’t need an electronic article surveillance system. They feel that their employees offer customer service and that is enough to prevent theft. As someone who has been in Loss Prevention for many years I am going to say that train of thought is flawed. The groups I was dealing with were astute in how they would commit their crimes. If they noticed that employees were providing customer service they would split up. Divide the store team and someone is going to get free to conceal merchandise. It was hard in a big box store to cover everyone, for a small or medium size retailer you will probably not have the personnel to match up one for one. Once your team is divided your store becomes free game. A force multiplier for YOU is to use Sensormatic labels to protect your merchandise and the towers at the front doors to alarm if a criminal tries to sneak goods out of the store.
In the department store I worked for as a Loss Prevention Officer we had multiple exits, I could never cover them all on my own or with a partner. BUT in the big box stores I worked for we had one entry/exit point and a single employee could respond to an electronic article surveillance alarm quickly and effectively. In a store with this equipment set up your team can offer the best customer service possible to deter shoplifters. But tagging merchandise and having one person near the front doors able to answer alarms means you don’t have to be concerned if you can’t keep up with every member of a suspicious party of customers.
You have decisions to make on how to stop shoplifting in your store(s) to stay profitable. With so many day to day managerial responsibilities to attend to this doesn’t need to be a difficult one to make. Tag merchandise with Sensormatic labels and add Sensormatic towers at your entrances and exits and you will see an immediate impact on theft reduction in your store. Multiply the impact of your customer service with Sensormatic.
Sensormatic labels are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
People Counting Systems-4 WC Blog 537
Customer Counting Device-5
People Counting Systems Can Help Safety Results
People counting systems assist stores in delivering improved sales results but there is another application that may be overlooked and can improve store safety and impact profitability. There can be areas in a store that may not receive as much foot traffic as other areas of a building. I harken back to my days as a Manager On Duty. I would walk the store checking on endcaps, merchandise presentation, full shelves, etc. My walks would include the entire store but it was evident from the presentation of merchandise in a few sections that not many customers walked by these areas. This would also indicate to me that there probably were not too many managers walking through those areas either. If an area is out of sight it is out of mind and so if there happen to be any safety issues in that department they could easily be overlooked by employees. A customer counting device can be set up in areas that seem to be off the beaten path in order to determine what the actual traffic counts are for that area of the store.
It is appropriate at this point to talk about what people counting systems are and how they work. Counting systems measure the number of people who pass by a device. Often the devices are attached to an entrance door. The data from a Checkpoint Visiplus System includes day and hourly information that owners and supervisors can use to help manage the business. Visiplus can also be attached to a Checkpoint tower and benefit stores in evaluating electronic article system alarms and responses. In these stores the customer counting device is helping to measure data that is useful in increasing sales as well as data that can help reduce shortage. If there is a need for it a device can be set up in a location within a store to track customer traffic. This is where a unit may be helpful in locating potential points where safety could be a concern for owners and managers.
When I was a Loss Prevention Manager I had several incidents of purse snatchings take place in my store. The customer left a purse or tote bag in a shopping cart and walked several feet away. The perpetrator would see the exposed bag and walk by, pick up the purse and walk away. Often the incidents took place in areas of the store where there was less patron activity. This meant there was minimal risk that a witness would be in the area who would see the crime take place. Knowing where these low activity areas were by analyzing the information from a customer counting device might have been useful. We could have alerted our other managers that this was an area they should frequent during the shift. An alternative would have been to send employees to walk through known low traffic areas as a deterrent to potential crime.
Another way the customer counting device can improve safety is that by identifying those low traffic areas your team may do more walk-throughs and find a safety concern that could be overlooked. The safety issues I am thinking of are spills that are not cleaned up leading to slip and fall accidents. They are broken floor tile or carpet that is in poor condition that could pose trip hazards. All it takes is for one customer to have an accident because something is not done to correct a safety problem and you are shelling out big money for a claim.
You should also note that if you can identify low traffic areas by using people counting systems you can try to find ways to direct more customer flow in that direction. It could be the use of signing to direct shoppers to a new display in those areas. Maybe moving popular categories of merchandise to those locations is a means to entice customers in that direction. Knowing what the actual patron foot print is in those areas means you can proactively address the issue of slow turnover merchandise.
Loss Prevention Systems Inc. recognizes the importance of store safety to the bottom line of retail businesses. They can help reduce risk in your establishment and improve sales with the purchase of a customer counting device. Install people counting systems and plan for decreased safety issues and increased profits.
For more information about people counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
People counting systems assist stores in delivering improved sales results but there is another application that may be overlooked and can improve store safety and impact profitability. There can be areas in a store that may not receive as much foot traffic as other areas of a building. I harken back to my days as a Manager On Duty. I would walk the store checking on endcaps, merchandise presentation, full shelves, etc. My walks would include the entire store but it was evident from the presentation of merchandise in a few sections that not many customers walked by these areas. This would also indicate to me that there probably were not too many managers walking through those areas either. If an area is out of sight it is out of mind and so if there happen to be any safety issues in that department they could easily be overlooked by employees. A customer counting device can be set up in areas that seem to be off the beaten path in order to determine what the actual traffic counts are for that area of the store.
It is appropriate at this point to talk about what people counting systems are and how they work. Counting systems measure the number of people who pass by a device. Often the devices are attached to an entrance door. The data from a people counter includes day and hourly information that owners and supervisors can use to help manage the business. Visiplus can also be attached to an EAS tower and benefit stores in evaluating electronic article system alarms and responses. In these stores the customer counting device is helping to measure data that is useful in increasing sales as well as data that can help reduce shortage. If there is a need for it a device can be set up in a location within a store to track customer traffic. This is where a unit may be helpful in locating potential points where safety could be a concern for owners and managers.
When I was a Loss Prevention Manager I had several incidents of purse snatchings take place in my store. The customer left a purse or tote bag in a shopping cart and walked several feet away. The perpetrator would see the exposed bag and walk by, pick up the purse and walk away. Often the incidents took place in areas of the store where there was less patron activity. This meant there was minimal risk that a witness would be in the area who would see the crime take place. Knowing where these low activity areas were by analyzing the information from a customer counting device might have been useful. We could have alerted our other managers that this was an area they should frequent during the shift. An alternative would have been to send employees to walk through known low traffic areas as a deterrent to potential crime.
Another way the customer counting device can improve safety is that by identifying those low traffic areas your team may do more walk-throughs and find a safety concern that could be overlooked. The safety issues I am thinking of are spills that are not cleaned up leading to slip and fall accidents. They are broken floor tile or carpet that is in poor condition that could pose trip hazards. All it takes is for one customer to have an accident because something is not done to correct a safety problem and you are shelling out big money for a claim.
You should also note that if you can identify low traffic areas by using people counting systems you can try to find ways to direct more customer flow in that direction. It could be the use of signing to direct shoppers to a new display in those areas. Maybe moving popular categories of merchandise to those locations is a means to entice customers in that direction. Knowing what the actual patron foot print is in those areas means you can proactively address the issue of slow turnover merchandise.
Loss Prevention Systems Inc. recognizes the importance of store safety to the bottom line of retail businesses. They can help reduce risk in your establishment and improve sales with the purchase of a customer counting device. Install people counting systems and plan for decreased safety issues and increased profits
.For more information about people counting systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
