Stop shoplifting -4 WC Blog 753
Employee Theft – 4
Are You Savvy Enough To Stop Shoplifting And Employee Theft?
I was training two new employees at the store where I work and they got a taste of how to stop shoplifting. I was training the guys on where merchandise in the store is located and in the process I came across a suspicious shopper and offered him extensive customer service. The shopper ended up leaving without making a purchase (and without stealing anything). I was able to use this as a training moment to explain to the two new employees what made me decide this was no shopper but a shoplifter wannabe. I transitioned from rendering customer service to giving aggressive customer service. My level of service changed based on my Loss Prevention experience and knowing that the statements and actions of the “customer” were not consistent with what a normal shopper would say or do. This brings me to the reason I chose to write on the topic of training, how do store owners who may not have a Loss Prevention background conduct training to prevent employee theft and stop shoplifting?
Effective training requires a certain level of expertise. This is not to say the trainer has to be a true expert in every aspect of a task or job but he/she should have more than a passing familiarity with that task. For example, I am familiar with some aspects of Human Resources but not enough to train someone else in it. Likewise I would not recommend someone who has responded to an electronic article surveillance alarm or two to teach others about how to identify when employee theft or shoplifting may be occurring. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. is an outstanding training resource for retailers which cannot afford an internal Loss Prevention Officer. Major national retailer chains can afford teams of Loss Prevention Officers who can also act as trainers and investigators of internal theft. Since this is not a realistic consideration for independent store owners Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. offers an alternate solution.
From training to prevent employee theft and how to stop pilferage due to shoplifting Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) has a variety of training opportunities available to store owners and managers. Store owners can schedule live training seminars for their management teams that can help them understand the different types of shoplifters, their behaviors and even methods to approach them that won’t feel uncomfortable. Employee theft prevention training encompasses everything from the different ways workers may be stealing from you to the ways you can pre-empt it with sound hiring practices which include background checks. The great thing about LPSI’s programs are there are several means of receiving training including in-person seminars to live webinars.
One more training module that I believe is very important to any business is that LPSI offers a “Train the Trainer” course. You can train people to learn something but showing them how to train others is a different matter. Referring back to my suspected shoplifter, I was able to use that real-life incident to follow-up with my new co-workers. I had the experience to explain what it was that I keyed into to discern something was not right in the situation. Had they received this same information from someone with little more knowledge than they had the lesson would not have carried the same impact. Likewise, if you send a manager through training to stop shoplifting that alone will likely provide a sufficient level of knowledge for them to share with others and have the same result.
Did I have to share what I was seeing and hearing with my co-workers after the suspect left the store? No, I could have let the issue rest and gone back to what I was doing. By sharing my knowledge I hope that they will remember the lesson as they start working and use it to prevent theft. LPSI has a wealth of information that can help owners and managers make their businesses more prosperous. Stop shoplifting and dishonest staff members and dollars lost to shortage drop significantly. LPSI can assist you with all the training you will need to build a shortage and security savvy squad of employees.
Need information on how to stop shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I was training two new employees at the store where I work and they got a taste of how to stop shoplifting. I was training the guys on where merchandise in the store is located and in the process I came across a suspicious shopper and offered him extensive customer service. The shopper ended up leaving without making a purchase (and without stealing anything). I was able to use this as a training moment to explain to the two new employees what made me decide this was no shopper but a shoplifter wannabe. I transitioned from rendering customer service to giving aggressive customer service. My level of service changed based on my Loss Prevention experience and knowing that the statements and actions of the “customer” were not consistent with what a normal shopper would say or do. This brings me to the reason I chose to write on the topic of training, how do store owners who may not have a Loss Prevention background conduct training to prevent employee theft and stop shoplifting?
Effective training requires a certain level of expertise. This is not to say the trainer has to be a true expert in every aspect of a task or job but he/she should have more than a passing familiarity with that task. For example, I am familiar with some aspects of Human Resources but not enough to train someone else in it. Likewise I would not recommend someone who has responded to an electronic article surveillance alarm or two to teach others about how to identify when employee theft or shoplifting may be occurring. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. is an outstanding training resource for retailers which cannot afford an internal Loss Prevention Officer. Major national retailer chains can afford teams of Loss Prevention Officers who can also act as trainers and investigators of internal theft. Since this is not a realistic consideration for independent store owners Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. offers an alternate solution.
From training to prevent employee theft and how to stop pilferage due to shoplifting Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) has a variety of training opportunities available to store owners and managers. Store owners can schedule live training seminars for their management teams that can help them understand the different types of shoplifters, their behaviors and even methods to approach them that won’t feel uncomfortable. Employee theft prevention training encompasses everything from the different ways workers may be stealing from you to the ways you can pre-empt it with sound hiring practices which include background checks. The great thing about LPSI’s programs are there are several means of receiving training including in-person seminars to live webinars.
One more training module that I believe is very important to any business is that LPSI offers a “Train the Trainer” course. You can train people to learn something but showing them how to train others is a different matter. Referring back to my suspected shoplifter, I was able to use that real-life incident to follow-up with my new co-workers. I had the experience to explain what it was that I keyed into to discern something was not right in the situation. Had they received this same information from someone with little more knowledge than they had the lesson would not have carried the same impact. Likewise, if you send a manager through training to stop shoplifting that alone will likely provide a sufficient level of knowledge for them to share with others and have the same result.
Did I have to share what I was seeing and hearing with my co-workers after the suspect left the store? No, I could have let the issue rest and gone back to what I was doing. By sharing my knowledge I hope that they will remember the lesson as they start working and use it to prevent theft. LPSI has a wealth of information that can help owners and managers make their businesses more prosperous. Stop shoplifting and dishonest staff members and dollars lost to shortage drop significantly. LPSI can assist you with all the training you will need to build a shortage and security savvy squad of employees.
Need information on how to stop shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I was training two new employees at the store where I work and they got a taste of how to stop shoplifting. I was training the guys on where merchandise in the store is located and in the process I came across a suspicious shopper and offered him extensive customer service. The shopper ended up leaving without making a purchase (and without stealing anything). I was able to use this as a training moment to explain to the two new employees what made me decide this was no shopper but a shoplifter wannabe. I transitioned from rendering customer service to giving aggressive customer service. My level of service changed based on my Loss Prevention experience and knowing that the statements and actions of the “customer” were not consistent with what a normal shopper would say or do. This brings me to the reason I chose to write on the topic of training, how do store owners who may not have a Loss Prevention background conduct training to prevent employee theft and stop shoplifting?
Effective training requires a certain level of expertise. This is not to say the trainer has to be a true expert in every aspect of a task or job but he/she should have more than a passing familiarity with that task. For example, I am familiar with some aspects of Human Resources but not enough to train someone else in it. Likewise I would not recommend someone who has responded to an electronic article surveillance alarm or two to teach others about how to identify when employee theft or shoplifting may be occurring. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. is an outstanding training resource for retailers which cannot afford an internal Loss Prevention Officer. Major national retailer chains can afford teams of Loss Prevention Officers who can also act as trainers and investigators of internal theft. Since this is not a realistic consideration for independent store owners Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. offers an alternate solution.
From training to prevent employee theft and how to stop pilferage due to shoplifting Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) has a variety of training opportunities available to store owners and managers. Store owners can schedule live training seminars for their management teams that can help them understand the different types of shoplifters, their behaviors and even methods to approach them that won’t feel uncomfortable. Employee theft prevention training encompasses everything from the different ways workers may be stealing from you to the ways you can pre-empt it with sound hiring practices which include background checks. The great thing about LPSI’s programs are there are several means of receiving training including in-person seminars to live webinars.
One more training module that I believe is very important to any business is that LPSI offers a “Train the Trainer” course. You can train people to learn something but showing them how to train others is a different matter. Referring back to my suspected shoplifter, I was able to use that real-life incident to follow-up with my new co-workers. I had the experience to explain what it was that I keyed into to discern something was not right in the situation. Had they received this same information from someone with little more knowledge than they had the lesson would not have carried the same impact. Likewise, if you send a manager through training to stop shoplifting that alone will likely provide a sufficient level of knowledge for them to share with others and have the same result.
Did I have to share what I was seeing and hearing with my co-workers after the suspect left the store? No, I could have let the issue rest and gone back to what I was doing. By sharing my knowledge I hope that they will remember the lesson as they start working and use it to prevent theft. LPSI has a wealth of information that can help owners and managers make their businesses more prosperous. Stop shoplifting and dishonest staff members and dollars lost to shortage drop significantly. LPSI can assist you with all the training you will need to build a shortage and security savvy squad of employees.
Need information on how to stop shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I work in an office supply store and there are several different methods the store employs to prevent shoplifting. I am in the unique position that I can look at these strategies and make a professional judgement on their effectiveness. I have been involved in Retail Loss Prevention in one way or another for over 20 years. I have used the most effective retail anti-theft devices and the least effective tools for protecting merchandise. As a sales associate in my current role I can speak to the one strategy I really detest and that is keeping merchandise in a stockroom. It wasn’t long ago I had a customer who wanted to take a look at a couple of packages of pens. The store doesn’t keep these pens on the floor; instead there are placards with the picture of each type of pen on them. If the customer wants to look at the pen I have to go to the stockroom and get one out. I wanted to help this customer get what they came in for so I went to retrieve one so she could examine it. This was just to look at the pen, there was no guarantee she would purchase it (and ultimately she did not). On the way to the stockroom I had to stop and answer questions for two other customers. In one of those instances I had to ask the customer to wait until I was done helping my first customer then I would get back to her. What a terrible way to provide customer service. Yes, I called to see if anyone else could assist her but everyone was occupied with their own customer or they were busy in another department. If I had my choice I would protect the pens with Sensormatic Safers rather than the placard/stockroom lockup method.
There are two types of Safers available to prevent shoplifting. The first is the Flexible Safer and the second is the Adjustable Safer. Both types are equipped with electronic article surveillance technology. This means anyone attempting to carry a protected item out of the store is going to activate the Sensormatic pedestals and store associates can respond and recover the merchandise. The wonderful thing about Sensormatic Safers is that they are great for protecting small items or high dollar goods. For example Flexible Safers are a fantastic tool for protecting 4-packs of AAA lithium batteries or electric toothbrush heads. Adjustable Safers might be used to protect fragrances or skin care products (or pens). The use of these retail anti-theft devices allow merchants more options for stocking merchandise on the salesfloor and minimizing the use of stockrooms for holding merchandise. Protecting products and getting them in the hands of your customers alleviates the necessity of wasted manpower to retrieve products that may or may not be bought. It also makes the convenience of picking up an item and examining it an unstated selling point. As a shopper, I get frustrated when I can’t look at a locked up item because no one is nearby to readily unlock a display case or retrieve something from a stockroom. If it frustrates me, I know it frustrates others.
Sensormatic Safers were not available to me when I was a Loss prevention Manager. I wish they had been. I recall one of the hardest areas of the store to prevent shoplifting in was the health and beauty department. Within the specific department razor blades, perfumes and colognes were some of the specific items where we were constantly fighting shoplifting. We had some retail anti-theft devices we used but Safers would have been a better option if we had them available to us. We spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to brand these items to deter Organized Retail Crime groups and tagging them with electronic article surveillance tags. We were more successful than some of our peers but we still had theft problems that impacted our ability to keep product in-stock for paying customers. Of course, this hurt sales, on top of the financial impact of the theft itself.
Customer service is a powerful tool in retail. A negative experience for a customer may mean they don’t return for quite some time if at all. On the other hand a great experience leads to customer loyalty and a many return trips. Providing convenience to your customers contributes to an enhanced shopping trip and sales for your store. Sensormatic Safers can make the shopping experience easier and happier for your clients and that means more sales for you.
Get more information on Sensormatic Safers, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Employment drug screening-3 WC Blog 645
Drug testing-3
Employment Drug Screening Improves Worker Safety
There are a number of reasons to conduct employment drug screening before hiring a new worker but one of the reasons that make it important is workplace safety. I understand that keeping workers safe should be a given but as an employer there are more factors in play that safety impacts in your store. Consider for a moment that if an employee does not feel safe at their job they could decide to quit. When that employee quits what happens? You the store owner or manager is forced to post the job opening, review applications and interview candidates. Once you are through that process you are going to have to spend time training the new worker and understand that productivity won’t be where it was when you had that trained person working for you. A work environment that does not feel safe to your team can be an extreme drain on your overall profit line.
You could be thinking that you can operate a safe workplace without having to worry about whether employees are using drugs or if you have a need to conduct drug testing. Here are some facts you might find interesting from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Source: BJS, Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99, NCJ 190076, December 2001. :
For victims of workplace violence:
• 35% believed the offender was drinking or using drugs at the time of the incident.
• 36% did not know if the offender had been drinking or using drugs.
• 27% of all workplace offenders had not been drinking or using drugs.
Victims of workplace violence varied in their perception of whether the offender used alcohol or drugs by occupation:
• 47% in law enforcement perceived the offender to be using alcohol or drugs
• 35% in the medical field
• 31% in retail sales (emphasis mine)
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report by Joyce Northwood, originally posted December 7, 2011, “Assaults and Violent Acts in the Private Retail Trade Sector, 2003-2008”, the author wrote the following; “From 2003-2008, there were 944 homicides and 8,700 nonfatal assaults by persons in the retail trade sector.” On page 3 of the report the author also points out that, “First-line supervisors and managers of sales workers accounted for 45% of fatalities in retail trade.” (bls.gov). If there are this many incidents of violence and a large proportion of those who have been victims of violence perceive that drugs or alcohol contributed to those assaults, you can bet those workers will not be happy if they know another employee is a drug user.
Employment drug screening is the answer for employers who want to minimize the chance they hire someone who is a drug user. That is that done by partnering with a company that has been in the business of Retail Loss Prevention consultation and theft reduction for over 25 years. Bill Bregar founded the company in 1983 and Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) was incorporated in 1993. Since then the company has focused on helping customers improve profits and reduce shortage with anti-theft solutions, investigations, training programs, email tips, background checks and pre-employment drug testing and much more. With this much experience it is a smart choice to hire LPSI to conduct pre-employment drug screening and ongoing random drug screening to keep your current staff happy.
Finally, if maintaining a violence-free work place isn’t reason enough for you to have drug screenings as part of your hiring process then think about the money you could be saving on accidents. Alcohol and drugs contribute to an overall increase in accidents, associated medical expenses and lost time at work. By drug testing job candidates, making random drug testing and post-accident drug testing conditions for employment, retail store owners can improve the store culture. Improving the culture leads to a more productive and happier team and that drives up profits and that is the point of being in business.
Get more information on drug testing, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
There are a number of reasons to conduct employment drug screening before hiring a new worker but one of the reasons that make it important is workplace safety. I understand that keeping workers safe should be a given but as an employer there are more factors in play that safety impacts in your store. Consider for a moment that if an employee does not feel safe at their job they could decide to quit. When that employee quits what happens? You the store owner or manager is forced to post the job opening, review applications and interview candidates. Once you are through that process you are going to have to spend time training the new worker and understand that productivity won’t be where it was when you had that trained person working for you. A work environment that does not feel safe to your team can be an extreme drain on your overall profit line.
You could be thinking that you can operate a safe workplace without having to worry about whether employees are using drugs or if you have a need to conduct drug testing. Here are some facts you might find interesting from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Source: BJS, Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99, NCJ 190076, December 2001.
For victims of workplace violence:
• 35% believed the offender was drinking or using drugs at the time of the incident.
• 36% did not know if the offender had been drinking or using drugs.
• 27% of all workplace offenders had not been drinking or using drugs.
Victims of workplace violence varied in their perception of whether the offender used alcohol or drugs by occupation:
• 47% in law enforcement perceived the offender to be using alcohol or drugs
• 35% in the medical field
• 31% in retail sales (emphasis mine)
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report by Joyce Northwood, originally posted December 7, 2011, “Assaults and Violent Acts in the Private Retail Trade Sector, 2003-2008”, the author wrote the following; “From 2003-2008, there were 944 homicides and 8,700 nonfatal assaults by persons in the retail trade sector.” On page 3 of the report the author also points out that, “First-line supervisors and managers of sales workers accounted for 45% of fatalities in retail trade.” (bls.gov). If there are this many incidents of violence and a large proportion of those who have been victims of violence perceive that drugs or alcohol contributed to those assaults, you can bet those workers will not be happy if they know another employee is a drug user.
Employment drug screening is the answer for employers who want to minimize the chance they hire someone who is a drug user. That is that done by partnering with a company that has been in the business of Retail Loss Prevention consultation and theft reduction for over 25 years. Bill Bregar founded the company in 1983 and Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) was incorporated in 1993. Since then the company has focused on helping customers improve profits and reduce shortage with anti-theft solutions, investigations, training programs, email tips, background checks and pre-employment drug testing and much more. With this much experience it is a smart choice to hire LPSI to conduct pre-employment drug screening and ongoing random drug screening to keep your current staff happy.
Finally, if maintaining a violence-free work place isn’t reason enough for you to have drug screenings as part of your hiring process then think about the money you could be saving on accidents. Alcohol and drugs contribute to an overall increase in accidents, associated medical expenses and lost time at work. By drug testing job candidates, making random drug testing and post-accident drug testing conditions for employment, retail store owners can improve the store culture. Improving the culture leads to a more productive and happier team and that drives up profits and that is the point of being in business.
Get more information on drug testing, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I was in a store the other day and saw a box of Cracker Jacks and a thought came to me about the Loss Prevention System, Inc. (LPSI) Free Loss Prevention Calculator. Now I had better go back a bit for some readers. Cracker Jacks today aren’t like they used to be. A LONG time ago you used to get some little trinket surprise in the box. You never knew what the surprise would be but you knew something would be in the bottom of the box. We enjoyed the snack but many of us also bought the treat for the joy of the hidden treasure. In a manner of speaking LPSI offers a kind of surprise to retailers when they use the Loss Prevention ROI Calculator and learn that Loss Prevention can be free.
When a store owner starts to look into the purchase of a Loss Prevention anti-theft system it is often the result of high shortage numbers primarily attributable to theft. There are also owners or managers who think about purchasing a security system but are reluctant to do so out of an unfounded concern over what a system would cost them. Sadly, some of these owners have looked in all the wrong places for the best value. They get prices for systems and they may get prices on tags but they have no idea what they are purchasing and no one is explaining the value of what they are investing in. By visiting the LPSI website and their Loss Prevention ROI Calculator, a storeowner is going to be in for a pleasant surprise. Just like finding that hidden toy in a box of Cracker Jacks, the owner is going to find out that the ROI Calculator is a Free Loss Prevention Calculator. There is no charge to use it, no pushy salesman with a pop-up chat box trying to interact with you just a calculator that requires a few key pieces of information.
The second surprise comes when the user of the calculator learns that shortage in the store can be reduced by almost half with a Sensormatic security system installation. The calculator estimates a system will reduce your losses due to theft from 1.2% to .65% (which approximates average national shortage figures). Surprise number three is when you learn that over a period of time a retail anti-theft system will pay for itself. You read that correctly, the amount of money a system will save in shortage reduction will eventually pay for the system and the Free Loss Prevention Calculator will tell you how long it will take to do so. No boxed candy snack is going to give you three surprises!
And to borrow a phrase from those as seen on the television commercials, “Wait there’s more!” After you use the Free Loss Prevention Calculator and decide you might be interested in a Sensormatic system, a visit to LPSI’s home page reveals that if you purchase a Loss Prevention System from them you get more than just a Sensormatic tower and installation. LPSI includes free, live Loss Prevention training for the life of your Sensormatic system when you purchase a system from them. You ALSO receive free training on how to use your Sensormatic system when you make the purchase from them. A system requires more than just haphazardly putting labels on merchandise or walking up to someone who has set off an alarm and asking if they have something they didn’t pay for. There are right and wrong ways to do things and LPSI will teach your team the best methods for optimizing your system.
Purchasing something and getting a bonus item with it that was not expected is always a pleasant surprise. You may be in the market for a new anti-theft system just to get control over inventory shortage. Before you search the internet for a dealer who may not be interested in more than selling you a tower and tags take a look at the LPSI’s Loss Prevention ROI Calculator and their website. Learn how they are interested in more than selling you a tower, they are interested in the success of your business. Their commitment to their clients makes them stand far above other Loss Prevention consultation businesses and even Loss Prevention system dealers. Check out their website today and find out why they are an award winning company in the field of Loss Prevention.
Get more information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Sensormatic Customer Counting Systems
Have you ever wanted effective customer counting systems in your retail? How about incorporating retail traffic counting into a Sensormatic security system? We can do it. In fact, given the low cost it is simply not smart to leave it out of a Sensormatic system.
But, what will it do for you? We have a long time customer with eight stores that incorporated retail traffic counting into the systems we installed. Besides the obvious like counting traffic by time of day, day of the week, etc., a number of other surprise benefits arose. Our customer told me that in the first year the people counting portion of the system saved them in excess of $100K!
They found that there were stores that were opening too early/late and some that were closing to early/late. They combined our people counting systems data with their sales data and these revelations jumped out at them. They made adjustments to the hours in individual stores and their sales climbed significantly.
They also found that they were better able to adjust staffing needs to accommodate customer traffic. It makes sense. Why have staff on the floor when the customer traffic is low? On the other hand if you know there is a spike every Wednesday between 2:00 PM and 3:45 PM, you would want to make sure you have enough folks on the floor to accommodate.
But you may be saying to yourself now “I have my sales data to tell me that”. Sales data is only a piece of the puzzle. Sales data tells you how many customers made a purchase. It does not tell you how many lost opportunities there were because customers could not get assistance, make a decision or find something. On top of that, we know that properly trained staff will have add-on sales. “I think this scarf would look lovely with the blouse you picked out”. So we have more opportunities to increase the sales with the customers we have already attracted to the store. That is the benefit of having the right people on the sales floor at the right time.
All of this leads us to the big elephant in the room, payroll! We know that our largest expense tends to be labor. A retail traffic counting system will help you to reduce or use your payroll dollars much more efficiently as I have demonstrated above.
Sensormatic systems have retail traffic counting built in on many models. You will receive automated reports and can access the system dashboard at any time. Most Sensormatic systems have a built in network card to attach to your high speed router. The software monitoring is called SMaaS which stands for Shrink Management as a Service. This cloud based loss prevention service is designed to help enhance your stores productivity, increase reliability and boost system performance.
Additional features of SMaaS include the ability for you to have the systems power themselves up/down to a lower rate of energy consumption. Over a year’s period of time that will add up. You can also access real time data involving Sensormatic systems alarms, maintenance issues and much more. Here is the full list of features:
• Will help ensure reliability and optimal Sensormatic system performance with 24/7/365 remote monitoring and management of connected EAS equipment health statuses. This monitoring is provided by Sensormatic.
• Correct equipment issues in a proactive way with notification of service required to rectify problems
• Gather insights to help make effective data-driven decisions that will impact your shrink and bottom line results
• You are emailed notifications when your systems activity exceed a predetermined threshold so you know when an exception has occurred
• Minimize your Sensormatic systems downtime to help you spend less time managing
• Highly scalable and customizable cloud infrastructure and EAS event reporting
Contact Loss Prevention Systems today or call 1-770-426-0547 to learn more about Sensormatic Security Systems, retail traffic counting, people counting systems and customer counting systems.
Have you ever wanted effective customer counting systems in your retail? How about incorporating retail traffic counting into a Sensormatic security system? We can do it. In fact, given the low cost it is simply not smart to leave it out of a Sensormatic system.
But, what will it do for you? We have a long time customer with eight stores that incorporated retail traffic counting into the systems we installed. Besides the obvious like counting traffic by time of day, day of the week, etc., a number of other surprise benefits arose. Our customer told me that in the first year the people counting portion of the system saved them in excess of $100K!
They found that there were stores that were opening too early/late and some that were closing to early/late. They combined our people counting systems data with their sales data and these revelations jumped out at them. They made adjustments to the hours in individual stores and their sales climbed significantly.
They also found that they were better able to adjust staffing needs to accommodate customer traffic. It makes sense. Why have staff on the floor when the customer traffic is low? On the other hand if you know there is a spike every Wednesday between 2:00 PM and 3:45 PM, you would want to make sure you have enough folks on the floor to accommodate.
But you may be saying to yourself now “I have my sales data to tell me that”. Sales data is only a piece of the puzzle. Sales data tells you how many customers made a purchase. It does not tell you how many lost opportunities there were because customers could not get assistance, make a decision or find something. On top of that, we know that properly trained staff will have add-on sales. “I think this scarf would look lovely with the blouse you picked out”. So we have more opportunities to increase the sales with the customers we have already attracted to the store. That is the benefit of having the right people on the sales floor at the right time.
All of this leads us to the big elephant in the room, payroll! We know that our largest expense tends to be labor. A retail traffic counting system will help you to reduce or use your payroll dollars much more efficiently as I have demonstrated above.
Sensormatic systems have retail traffic counting built in on many models. You will receive automated reports and can access the system dashboard at any time. Most Sensormatic systems have a built in network card to attach to your high speed router. The software monitoring is called SMaaS which stands for Shrink Management as a Service. This cloud based loss prevention service is designed to help enhance your stores productivity, increase reliability and boost system performance.
Additional features of SMaaS include the ability for you to have the systems power themselves up/down to a lower rate of energy consumption. Over a year’s period of time that will add up. You can also access real time data involving Sensormatic systems alarms, maintenance issues and much more. Here is the full list of features:
• Will help ensure reliability and optimal Sensormatic system performance with 24/7/365 remote monitoring and management of connected EAS equipment health statuses. This monitoring is provided by Sensormatic.
• Correct equipment issues in a proactive way with notification of service required to rectify problems
• Gather insights to help make effective data-driven decisions that will impact your shrink and bottom line results
• You are emailed notifications when your systems activity exceed a predetermined threshold so you know when an exception has occurred
• Minimize your Sensormatic systems downtime to help you spend less time managing
• Highly scalable and customizable cloud infrastructure and EAS event reporting
Contact Loss Prevention Systems today or call 1-770-426-0547 to learn more about Sensormatic Security Systems, retail traffic counting, people counting systems and customer counting systems.
