Prevent Shoplifting-4 WC Blog 457
Retail Anti-Theft Devices-4
Alpha Hang Tag-4
Take A Lesson From The Government; Reduce Shortage With Retail Anti-Theft Devices That Can Be Recycled and Reused Many Times Over
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) .org has been using this theme for quite a number of years to encourage citizens to reduce the amount of litter and waste we create. I remember as a young child everything went in the trash can, but newspapers were often recycled. As a Boy Scout we spent time at a recycling center helping to separate out newspapers and magazines for the center. In some states we could collect glass bottles and turn them in to a local store and get 5 cents a bottle. That was good money for a kid. In the 1980’s and 1990’s collecting aluminum cans and taking them to recycling centers could bring you extra money. Taking a lesson from the EPA, retailers can benefit from the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle model in a little different way. The idea behind the EPA’s push is to reduce, if not eliminate waste in landfills. One of the objectives for retailers should be the reduction of shortage and theft. I am proposing that store owners could reduce shortage and prevent shoplifting through the use of retail anti-theft devices.
Retail anti-theft devices come in a variety of styles and shapes that give stores the ability to protect any item they may carry. One example I like to point to is the Alpha Hang Tag. This particular device was created to be placed on the hang tab or clamshell of packaging that may be hard to protect with other devices. It serves two purposes. If merchandise is hanging on a locking peg hook the Alpha Hang tag keeps a thief from cutting the hang tab off the merchandise and removing it. The second purpose is that they operate with electronic article surveillance technology. Should a shoplifter decide to try to steal merchandise with this anti-theft device on it, Checkpoint towers at the doors sound an audible alarm. Employees act to conduct receipt checks and recover the merchandise and prevent shoplifting before the goods leave the store and cause shortage. That is assuming a store is equipped with towers (for more information on Checkpoint towers contact Loss Prevention Systems Inc.).
Recycling is an additional benefit for stores that use the Alpha Hang Tag and it saves the store money. No, they aren’t placed in a recycle container to be picked up by the local sanitation department. The tags pin together and when tagged merchandise is brought to the checkout lane the cashier uses a special detachment tool to remove the tag. Tags are then placed in a container and placed on new merchandise when it is received at the store. This means that stores don’t have to constantly purchase new devices every time a protected piece of merchandise is sold. If over time the pins on the tags become bent from multiple uses new ones can be ordered without the requirement of purchasing and entire tag. Cost savings don’t get much better than that.
Some readers may like the idea of recycling and reusing the tags but there may be some doubts about the ability of these retail anti-theft devices to prevent shoplifting. As a Loss Prevention Manager I used Alpha products and I have seen them deter shoplifters. I have watched thieves get flustered trying to pry them off of products. I have also intervened to recover protected items as would-be thieves tried to sneak items out and the alarms sounded.
Reduce store shortage and prevent shoplifting with retail anti-theft devices thereby improving your store profitability. Recycle and reuse the devices to reduce unnecessary expenditures which contribute to the bottom line. If it’s good enough for the government it should be good enough for you.
Need information on retail anti-theft devices? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) .org has been using this theme for quite a number of years to encourage citizens to reduce the amount of litter and waste we create. I remember as a young child everything went in the trash can, but newspapers were often recycled. As a Boy Scout we spent time at a recycling center helping to separate out newspapers and magazines for the center. In some states we could collect glass bottles and turn them in to a local store and get 5 cents a bottle. That was good money for a kid. In the 1980’s and 1990’s collecting aluminum cans and taking them to recycling centers could bring you extra money. Taking a lesson from the EPA, retailers can benefit from the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle model in a little different way. The idea behind the EPA’s push is to reduce, if not eliminate waste in landfills. One of the objectives for retailers should be the reduction of shortage and theft. I am proposing that store owners could reduce shortage and prevent shoplifting through the use of retail anti-theft devices.
Retail anti-theft devices come in a variety of styles and shapes that give stores the ability to protect any item they may carry. One example I like to point to is the Alpha Hang Tag. This particular device was created to be placed on the hang tab or clamshell of packaging that may be hard to protect with other devices. It serves two purposes. If merchandise is hanging on a locking peg hook the Alpha Hang tag keeps a thief from cutting the hang tab off the merchandise and removing it. The second purpose is that they operate with electronic article surveillance technology. Should a shoplifter decide to try to steal merchandise with this anti-theft device on it, Checkpoint towers at the doors sound an audible alarm. Employees act to conduct receipt checks and recover the merchandise and prevent shoplifting before the goods leave the store and cause shortage. That is assuming a store is equipped with towers (for more information on Checkpoint towers contact Loss Prevention Systems Inc.).
Recycling is an additional benefit for stores that use the Alpha Hang Tag and it saves the store money. No, they aren’t placed in a recycle container to be picked up by the local sanitation department. The tags pin together and when tagged merchandise is brought to the checkout lane the cashier uses a special detachment tool to remove the tag. Tags are then placed in a container and placed on new merchandise when it is received at the store. This means that stores don’t have to constantly purchase new devices every time a protected piece of merchandise is sold. Cost savings don’t get much better than that.
Some readers may like the idea of recycling and reusing the tags but there may be some doubts about the ability of these retail anti-theft devices to prevent shoplifting. As a Loss Prevention Manager I used Alpha products and I have seen them deter shoplifters. I have watched thieves get flustered trying to pry them off of products. I have also intervened to recover protected items as would-be thieves tried to sneak items out and the alarms sounded.
Reduce store shortage and prevent shoplifting with retail anti-theft devices thereby improving your store profitability. Recycle and reuse the devices to reduce unnecessary expenditures which contribute to the bottom line. If it’s good enough for the government it should be good enough for you.
Need information on retail anti-theft devices? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Retail traffic counting may be more significant to your business than you might think. There was major remodel of a store I worked for and it affected sales for the business. The front of the store was being repainted which affected where customers could walk. Painter scaffolding was blocking portions of the entrances and we were forced to redirect traffic. A large area of our parking lot was fenced off and storage trailers occupied the space impacting vehicle parking. Inside the doorway plastic sheeting was hung down and our customers had to walk through cut out doorways. Further inside the store full departments were combined with other departments and space between fixtures was restrictive to say the least (downright claustrophobic is more appropriate). Floor tile and carpet were pulled up in areas and made walking around a cement floor uncomfortable. We did not have a door counting sensor to take an actual headcount of how many shoppers were entering the store but the information could have been useful to the company before jumping into other remodeling projects.
Retail traffic counting is exactly what it sounds like. It is the tracking of the number of people entering a store not just the tracking of daily sales data. The information obtained is important because it can aid store management in assessing the impact of events on the business. Sales data is useful for replenishment of products or comparisons of how many dollars are spent in one time frame versus another. Data can be driven down to the product level to see if a special sale item was successful or not. The downside to sales data alone is that it fails to provide the end user with the actual number of people who walked in and out of the store during the day. When people are factored in a business owner or manager can compare that figure to the total number of transactions and start to analyze if there were factors that may have contributed to missed sales opportunities. How difficult is it to obtain people counts? It is done with a door counting sensor that can be a stand-alone unit or better yet if a store has a Checkpoint System with electronic article surveillance (EAS) towers at the doors it can be connected to that system. The additional benefit is that EAS alarm activity and response can be tracked and evaluated.
Consider the usefulness of tracking the headcounts for your store. Going back to my remodel situation, we saw changes in our sales as the construction process took place. But if we knew how many patrons we were down compared to the prior year we could then make suggestions in our final store recap about what we could have done better. Would better signage or directional signs aided the parking situation? Perhaps the look of the work around the store entrance scared some customers away and we could have suggested an alternate entryway for customers. Looking back on it I believe the use of a door counting sensor would have been beneficial to us and the company.
Another useful application for retail traffic counting is that it can help measure the effectiveness of store advertising signage or new window displays to attract customers. If you have a baseline established for your patron counts and then do something creative with your signage and you can validate that the number of clients increased you can reasonably attribute the increase to the signage. If foot traffic goes up but sales data remains flat then you know you have another issue you need to evaluate and address. It may be your pricing strategy, your customer service level, too few cash registers open or something else. At least you can rule out that a lack of customers is your problem.
With the appropriate application a retail traffic counting system can be a useful assessment tool for your store. Evaluate your business and how certain activities may be driving or impeding sales so you can more effectively strategize in the future. Try adding a door counting sensor and see how you may be able to open the door to increased sales.
Need information on a retail counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
5 REASONS TO USE CLOTHING SECURITY TAGS
There are plenty of reasons to secure the clothing in your store with Checkpoint Tags; so many that I’d never be able to list them all. So, I won’t. What I will do is give you my top 5 reasons for doing so. Take in mind that every business is different and every category presents certain unique challenges associated with reducing shrink. These are, in my opinion, the best reasons to use EAS in apparel.
1. It Deters Crime
This is a no-brainer. If a shoplifter sees Clothing Security Tags in place, they are less likely to try and steal that item. Not only are you reducing external theft, you also keep the criminal element out of your store. Think about this; a large percentage of shoplifters are stealing to support a drug habit. Drug users are more likely to commit enhanced crimes like robbery, assault, vehicle burglary and even worse while spiraling down. By making shoplifting difficult, you eliminate a constant flow of this demographic into your store, thus reducing the overall likelihood of being impacted by other crimes associated with habitual shoplifters.
2. Maintain your Inventory
One often overlooked consequence of utilizing Checkpoint Tags is that you’re able to maintain better inventory. How frustrating is it when a customer is shopping for that last jean that the system says you have on hand, but you can’t locate it? Chances are, that jean was stolen. By securing those popular lines of clothing, your inventory has a chance to remain accurate, which not only helps you plan out your orders, but maintains your integrity to your customer.
3. Customer Service
This one plays right into #3. You may think of customer service as greeting and engaging the customers that walk in the door, or ask you for assistance. Think of how many customers come into your store on a daily basis. How many of them asked for help? Chances are, it’s a relatively small percentage. A major pillar of good customer service is having the product available, in reach of the customer and in-stock. Applying Clothing Security Tags on your merchandise allows you to accomplish all of those. Think about an advertised “hot item” you recently ran. How would your customers feel if they came to the store for that specific item only to find that all of them had been stolen?
4. Return on Investment
This almost goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway; Checkpoint Tags provide an almost immediate return on investment. Tags are cheap; like, super cheap. By spending a few cents on a hard tag, you can save a $200 loss if we use a good designer jean as an example. Think about that for just a minute. What else is out there that cost less than $1 and will give you a return of 2,000%?
5. It’s a Good Business Decision
Ultimately, everything you do for your store needs to make good business sense. You wouldn’t order a new hot pink, rhinestone encrusted, holes in the knees pair of pants unless Miley Cyrus was wearing them, and the same is true for any loss prevention solution. Utilizing Clothing Security Tags is good business. If one single product that costs mere pennies, can reduce crime in your store, help maintain accurate inventory that makes your customers happy, and provides significant ROI, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t have it in your retail tool-kit. It just makes sense.
Need information on Clothing Security, Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
There are plenty of reasons to secure the clothing in your store with Checkpoint Tags; so many that I’d never be able to list them all. So, I won’t. What I will do is give you my top 5 reasons for doing so. Take in mind that every business is different and every category presents certain unique challenges associated with reducing shrink. These are, in my opinion, the best reasons to use EAS in apparel.
1. It Deters Crime
This is a no-brainer. If a shoplifter sees Clothing Security Tags in place, they are less likely to try and steal that item. Not only are you reducing external theft, you also keep the criminal element out of your store. Think about this; a large percentage of shoplifters are stealing to support a drug habit. Drug users are more likely to commit enhanced crimes like robbery, assault, vehicle burglary and even worse while spiraling down. By making shoplifting difficult, you eliminate a constant flow of this demographic into your store, thus reducing the overall likelihood of being impacted by other crimes associated with habitual shoplifters.
2. Maintain your Inventory
One often overlooked consequence of utilizing Checkpoint Tags is that you’re able to maintain better inventory. How frustrating is it when a customer is shopping for that last jean that the system says you have on hand, but you can’t locate it? Chances are, that jean was stolen. By securing those popular lines of clothing, your inventory has a chance to remain accurate, which not only helps you plan out your orders, but maintains your integrity to your customer.
3. Customer Service
This one plays right into #3. You may think of customer service as greeting and engaging the customers that walk in the door, or ask you for assistance. Think of how many customers come into your store on a daily basis. How many of them asked for help? Chances are, it’s a relatively small percentage. A major pillar of good customer service is having the product available, in reach of the customer and in-stock. Applying Clothing Security Tags on your merchandise allows you to accomplish all of those. Think about an advertised “hot item” you recently ran. How would your customers feel if they came to the store for that specific item only to find that all of them had been stolen?
4. Return on Investment
This almost goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway; Checkpoint Tags provide an almost immediate return on investment. Tags are cheap; like, super cheap. By spending a few cents on a hard tag, you can save a $200 loss if we use a good designer jean as an example. Think about that for just a minute. What else is out there that cost less than $1 and will give you a return of 2,000%?
5. It’s a Good Business Decision
Ultimately, everything you do for your store needs to make good business sense. You wouldn’t order a new hot pink, rhinestone encrusted, holes in the knees pair of pants unless Miley Cyrus was wearing them, and the same is true for any loss prevention solution. Utilizing Clothing Security Tags is good business. If one single product that costs mere pennies, can reduce crime in your store, help maintain accurate inventory that makes your customers happy, and provides significant ROI, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t have it in your retail tool-kit. It just makes sense.
Need information on Clothing Security, Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
