WHAT IS WARDROBING?

I’ve written and talked about some very common forms of return fraud in the past, but I still get tons of questions and side-ways looks when I talk about wardrobing. Most merchants are very unfamiliar with this term and the associated fraud scheme, but more often than not, those very same merchants have been a victim of this fraud. 

Wardrobing is a name given to a very specific fraud scheme, usually associated with higher end apparel boutiques. In simplest terms, it’s the purchase of an apparel item, such as a higher end evening gown, or perhaps a prom dress. Wearing the item for that one occasion, then returning it to the store for a full refund. It all appears very legitimate, and without a stringent return policy, your store could become a rental agency. While returns are a part of business, if every customer partook in this behavior, your doors wouldn’t remain open for very long. How can you stop it?

Wardrobing’s natural predator is the Alpha Shark Tag. I’ve talked about these tags before and for good reason; they work! There aren’t many products on the market that do exactly what they say they do, but these are one of those products. Now, don’t think that sticking an Alpha Shark Tag on your designer clothes will solve all the world’s problems now. If you’re going to combat wardrobing, it takes a multi-pronged approach.  

First of all, you need to update your store’s return policy. Usually this can be communicated to your customers with in store signage, printed on the receipt or in speaking with your customers. I recommend all three if you can. You need to make sure that your return policy clearly states that merchandise can only be returned if the Alpha Shark Tag is still in place and there is no evidence that it was tampered with. 

Second, you need to apply the tags. Make sure when applying the tags, you are putting them in a very conspicuous place that would be very visible if the garment were worn. If the tag can be hidden, or covered with an accessory such as a scarf, you’re not doing yourself any good here. This makes it impossible for someone to wear the item out in public, thus forcing them to cut the tag from the garment. Of course, this doesn’t prevent them from trying it on for size, so be sure to keep that in mind when placing the tags. 

Lastly, stick to your policy. No matter what story someone may give you, stick to your guns. At first, those customers who are used to renting from you may put up a huge fight. After all, aren’t’ they entitled to steal your profits? As long as you stick with your policy and remain consistent, you will see a dramatic decrease in the volume of returns, ultimately keeping more profit in your pockets.   

For more information, contact us: Alpha Shark Tags, or call 1.770.426.0547

The Ultimate Guide To Clothing Security – Part 4

Well, here we are. The final installment of my ultimate guide series. If you recall, we’ve discussed some clever ways to prevent shoplifters from stealing your merchandise in a variety of effective ways, that don’t necessarily mean using clothing alarms. We’ve talked about merchandising high end articles up a little higher, having tight fitting room controls and how to handle organized thieves. What I want to end this series with it one of my favorite Checkpoint Tags that I’ve used throughout my career. It’s often overlooked in the apparel industry, but It’s one heck of an effective solution. 

 If you’re in the apparel business, you know that bulky clothing alarms just don’t cut the mustard. It turns off your high profile clients and it can really be detrimental to your store’s merchandising goals. Pretty much every Checkpoint Tag on the market is meant to not only protect the clothing it’s attached to, but to be a pretty visible deterrent to the theft. Chances are a normal shoplifter isn’t going to steal a jacket that has a big red ink tag on the front of it. If you have your own private label line, or have the ability to get this tagged applied at the source, you should absolutely look into the Sew-in EAS Labels. They are exactly what the name implies. It’s a clothing alarm device that sews into the garment. It’s practically invisible and most companies overlook this gem. 

 A few years ago one of my stores were having issues with a certain line of dresses. For whatever reason, they were being shoplifted at double the rate of anything else in the store. It seemed like every day, we were making inventory adjustments to just stay in stock. In stock long enough for the next shoplifter. We tried every conceivable Checkpoint Tag there was from a simple pencil tag, to ink tags and nothing seemed to slow the thieves down. They were able to sneak in tools and simply defeat the devices, so the door alarms would never alert me or my store employees.

After some discussions with the supplier, we tested a batch of these dresses with a Sew-in Tag. I’ve never deployed a clothing alarm that got me results as quick as these did. Within the first week of their use, an older gentleman exited the store one afternoon. The EAS system alerted and I just happened to be at the front doors. Seeing that nothing was in his hands, I stated that he may have stepped on a tag (boiler plate stuff really… I knew he was a thief, I just couldn’t act solely on the EAS activation). I could see he was nervous and before I could say another word, he began throwing several of those dresses out from his waistband! After he was arrested, he told me that he thought he removed all the sensor tags, and he figured he forgot one. I shook my head and walked away. There was no way I was telling him about those Sew-in Tags!!!! It’ll be my little secret. 

 I hope you’ve been able to pick up some helpful information over the last four segments. Whether you’re a manager at a big box, or you own a small boutique in the center of town, we all face shoplifters pretty often. Just remember that these losses don’t have to be just another loss associated with the retail business, but something that you can reduce with the right strategies. So get out there and take your profits back!

 For more information, contact us: Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547

Friend or Foe: Only Your Employee Background Check Knows for Sure

Who can hurt your business more than your own employees?  Who do you trust with your company funds, your valued assets and the best interest of your customers?  Who do you pay a decent wage in return for some degree of loyalty and ethics?  External theft can really hurt your business from criminal schemes and unethical treatment of your customers inside your business can kill you.  You know that, right?  After all this is your business!  If you believe that your employees are not only your strongest asset but potentially your worst enemy, let me ask you another question: How well do you know them?  Does your business engage in pre-employment screening?  If not, you have a potential disaster waiting to land at your doorstep!

If you have never had an employee steal from you or put you in a bad light with one of your customers, you are fortunate and are likely to experience it at some point in time.  During my career in law enforcement and loss prevention I have seen many unfortunate circumstances where an employer found himself asking why he didn’t know that the person working for him had stolen from other employers and had even been in jail for embezzlement.

If you had a policy of conducting employee background checks on all your candidates you would have known.  Pre-employment screening is your best defense against a bad hiring decision.  We have all made that decision to hire someone and found out that his resume was a lot stronger than he turned out to be.  If we could have known about his proclivity to engage in unethical and illegal conduct, he may have never made our payroll.

Pre-employment screening arms you with the information to help you make hiring decisions.  We have all heard the axiom that “the best indicator of future success is past performance.”  An employee background check consisting of criminal records checks at the local, state and federal levels and a driver’s history check along with validation of application information and a possible credit history check for some positions can help you get a profile of the history of our prospective employee.  Using your employee background check to your advantage you can now at least make an objective decision to accept the risk of the prospective employee or pass. I will tell you, based on experience, it is good to have a set of strong guidelines to help you adjudicate your employee background check decisions.  You are less likely to expose yourself to liability and other problems if you make consistent decisions in regard to what disqualifies someone to work for you.

I will also give you some more advice from my experiences.  Do not ignore the flags that present themselves during employee background checks.  If there is a criminal history or he has stolen from another employee or he has been involved in fraud schemes, don’t think you are going to change him through your inspirational leadership.  You might very well be able to; however, is it really worth it for you to take the risk?  Are you willing to bet your business on him?  I often asked managers when they told me they wanted to hire this person who was flagged with a history, “Would you let him babysit your child or take your keys and housesit?”  Almost without fail the answer is, “No.” Then, why in the world would you feel good about letting him have keys to your store and access to your money and customers?  Business is difficult enough with the untold number of unfortunate events and surprises that round every corner without allowing a predictable mistake to enter the picture.

So the next time you look at that prospective hire who you really liked and had the skill set you were looking at but unfortunately failed your pre-employment screening, see him as who he really is to you.  He is a potential liability that could take down your business and reputation. Everyone deserves the right to work, but not everyone deserves the right to work for you and conducting employee background checks will help you ensure that your employees remain your greatest asset and not your worst liability.

For more information on employee background checks contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.backgroundcheckexperts.net

Alpha Security Separates The Losers From The Keepers

I hate losing merchandise, especially when it is the result of theft.  I would rather have a two liter soda fall from a high shelf in the stock room, hit the floor, and explode in a wild spinning and spewing circle, spraying everything in it’s path.  That kind of mishap causes damage that is really annoying, but at least I know what happened, and I can take the markdown on the sticky mess.  That is one good reason I am so glad to have access to the retail anti theft devices that our company has invested in.

Fourteen years ago, when I started working for my current employer, if we had a theft issue come up with a certain type of product, we would simply put that product behind the front checkout.  High retail stomach remedies, large packages of pain relievers, and small electronics were commonly displayed behind the cashier.  We would sometimes take pictures or just make hand written signs to inform customers where those items could be found and purchased.  It was the only way we really knew how to prevent shoplifting in the early 2000’s.  Then as the years passed, the list of items grew longer and more complicated.  As more and more prescription only allergy medications and stomach remedies became available over the counter, the space behind the counter we used to keep them safe diminished.  Plus, even worse, as they were taken off the floor, the sales on these particular items went down.  We were losing sales and customers to our competition.  Then came Alpha Security, and for our small retail pharmacies, the introduction was a game changer.

We can now identify targeted items and secure them in these versatile and easy to use cases.  High retail skin care, cough and cold, digestive health, and even oral hygiene products are all being protected with Alpha Keepers in my store at this very moment, to ensure that my valuable inventory remains available for my honest cash paying customers.  They are an excellent theft deterrent and they work.  They have alarm capabilities, and they are completely compatible with the Checkpoint System for electronic article surveillance.  The best part is that these valuable tools keep your products safe and they can remain available right on the shelves, in their home locations.  That means that when a customer goes to the pain relief aisle looking for a bottle of medicine, it will be there, exactly where they expect it.  They don’t have to stand there, walking back and forth fruitlessly searching, and I don’t have to worry about them leaving empty handed.  Stores cannot maintain a loyal customer base if they are not in stock with what people are looking for.  Alpha Security helps to keep the items available, and helps keep my customers happy.

I recently visited a location of one of my nearest competitors.  I was actually there to simply make a purchase because my own store is further away from my home.  I was amazed by something in this store, but it was not an amazing eye catching display.  It was the fact that all the same stuff I used to hide behind the counter and require my customers to ask for at the time of checkout, was still behind their counters.  It’s 2015, and it may as well be the stone age in that store.  Expecting your customers to navigate a maze of aisles, just to find a sign telling them to go back up front for the product they’re looking for is bad business.  Check out Alpha Security products and see what they can do for you.    

For more information on Alpha Security, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Preventshopliftingloss.net

E-Books Increase Importance of Retail Theft Prevention in College Bookstores

The world of college education is rapidly changing: more online classes, digital books, web conferencing – everything that can be done digitally is being done digitally. It once was a rite of passage to spend hundreds of dollars on large text books to be lugged around in your backpack to, from, and all around campus. Now most students will either buy or simply rent electronic books to save the hassle of carting around heavy textbooks. Luckily there are still a few purists or traditionalists, like myself, who prefer to have the book on paper. Considering that a large number of students are turning to electronic text sources, it is becoming even more important for bookstore owners, especially those that sell textbooks, to be making every dollar that can be brought in by the sale of textbooks. This means, it is a more important time than ever to consider the big role of retail theft prevention in all bookstores.

Throughout my undergraduate studies, I also worked in retail loss prevention at a large, national chain store. During the day, I went to the university to study criminology and then at night, I would observe shoppers and shoplifters in the store. My studies and my work would blend together on occasion. I recall going to the university bookstore to find the books required for my course, seeing a uniformed security guard up in the textbook section, and another at the front door by the Electronic Article Surveillance pedestals. Carrying my backpack upstairs by the textbooks, I placed my backpack on the floor to retrieve my list of classes and required books, feeling a strange sense of guilt (even though I intended to steal nothing). I knew that what I was doing certainly looked like I was trying to stuff books into my backpack without paying! I also recognized that the security guard took notice of this also, and was eyeing me very suspiciously. Luckily for everyone, this was not the case.

I also noticed the very highly-priced text books! Yes, the university book store tends to charge more for books, but I found myself pondering the situation as I left to the bookstore across the street for cheaper books. One of the reasons the text books are so expensive is because of shoplifters. If your business sells books, I thought to myself, and they are always getting stolen, then naturally the prices are going to go up to cover the costs of the theft! That creates “customers” like me who then decide to shop elsewhere!

The textbook store across the street could beat the prices of the university store, but didn’t allow you to browse for books yourself – an employee would go find what you were looking for and return to the front (again, for preventing retail theft of books). Seems to be a bit of an extreme measure, but obviously they had even less margin to lose to theft, while keeping their prices lower than the university’s across the street.

Checkpoint Labels are the perfect solution to stop shoplifting of books of all kinds. White in color and barely noticeable just inside the cover of a book, these devices will activate an alarm with Checkpoint Security System pedestals installed at the door. Easily deactivated at the point of sale, they are sure to be a wise investment for anyone in the book business. Personally, I think it is best to have some combination of physical security controls (like guards or an “employees only” area) and merchandise protection and deterrence.

For more information, contact us: Retail Theft Prevention or call 1.770.426.0547

Companies Should Invest In Top Quality Devices To Be Successful

Small businesses face the threat of shoplifters just like the big box stores. Thieves have advantages in both types of retail establishments.  Mass merchants obviously have bigger buildings, so there are more places for a thief to “hide” and conceal merchandise.  Plus with more shoppers and staff, it is much easier for a thief to blend in and remain undetected while inside the store.  In small businesses, the opportunities come with less staff that can get distracted or overwhelmed, and not notice a wiped out shelf until it’s too late.  With smaller buildings, it can also be easier to get out quickly and into a waiting car.  In order to combat the loss of inventory, profit, and margin, all businesses should be looking at what tools they need to invest in.  Top quality devices, like Checkpoint Systems, are one of the first things to look into.

I’m not talking about some knock off brand.  I mean real Checkpoint Systems pedestals at the entrance, real Checkpoint Tags adhered to your most targeted items, and the many other options that are compatible with the system.    The system itself is the first stop in the battle.  Those pedestals send a clear visible message that your store has a plan to stop shoplifting.  The next line of defense is the tags.  They are the best deterrent to stop opportunists and inexperienced thieves.  You and your employees need to identify your most targeted items.  You have to ask yourselves a couple of questions.  1. If an item comes up missing, how did it get out the door unpaid and unseen?  2. Who, or even what group, is the most likely culprit? Petty theft by regular loyal customers happens more often than any retailer wants to admit.  Always remember: good people make bad decisions.  And, know that greed, not need, is the one biggest driver of all types of loss (internal and external).  Once you have your plans and your system in place, you should see a big drop in external losses.  If not, then you may need to address a bigger problem. Depending on what your store sells, you may be getting hit by professional thieves, or as we not-so-lovingly refer to as “boosters”.

Next up on the agenda should be Alpha Technology.  This is a division of Checkpoint Systems and all of the devices are compatible with the system. If someone attempts to remove an item with an Alpha device attached, the pedestals will alarm.  The more sophisticated and difficult the device is to remove, the more it will deter theft.  It will also send a stronger signal and be harder to defeat.  Alpha Keepers, clear cases that lock merchandise inside, are super hard to break.  Plus they make a lot of noise clacking together if a would be thief were to grab up a bunch of them in a basket or big shoplifter bag.  There are devices for almost any item your store specializes in.  Jewelry, sunglasses, handbags, and even clothing can be protected with some type of Alpha tool.   We even have cable locks that are great for the new crazy trend of laundry detergent theft.  Close that bad boy around the bottle handle and watch a thief try to figure out how to remove it.  “Not gonna happen” is the answer for them.  

You have to decide what works best for your store and what will protect the things you sell.  The easy answer is look at what Checkpoint Systems can do for you.   You have invested in your merchandise and the whole point is to sell it and make money.  You wouldn’t allow someone to come into your home and take your stuff or your money.  Essentially that is what you are doing if you sit and do nothing about shoplifting though.  Saying “I’m sick of these people stealing” and putting up some threatening signs is not enough.  Action is the only way to stop theft, and if you are looking at making the investment, you might as well shop for the real  thing, and the one that is recognized across the industry.  Like the saying goes, you’ll get what you pay for.  

For more information on Checkpoint Systems, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net