When small business owners are looking for ways to improve profitablility, one area that may be too easily dismissed is spending on merchandise protection. Why would that be? In part, because it is seen as an additional expense rather than a savings. When we think of improving profit there is a tendency to think of things such as raising prices on goods and services. Some stores keep longer hours or stay open on holidays when they may have once been closed. I have seen a retailer reduce the amount of merchandise carried in order to reduce the amount being spent on product that was sitting on the shelf not selling. Another method of reducing spending and trying to improve profit is to reduce payroll by cutting back on full time employees and increasing part-time employees. It may even be that positions are eliminated altogether. While there may be a limited Return On Investment (ROI) by taking any one of these measures, there may also be consequences to those choices. An owner would be foolish not to calculate those costs before implementing a change. On the other hand, what if an investment could save you money? Can Loss Prevention be free? There is a tool available to help you answer those questions. The Free Loss Prevention Calculator can show you how much an investment in anti-theft equipment can save you in merchandise shortage and how fast it can pay for itself.
The Free Loss Prevention Calculator is an investment tool offered by Loss Prevention Systems, inc. that provides retailers a way to see what they may save by purchasing retail loss prevention equipment. By going to their website and clicking on the link to the Loss Prevention ROI Calculator, a business owner can enter their actual or projected annual sales and the amount of money they may want to invest in Checkpoint equipment. Using an average 1.2% merchandise shrinkage figure, and an estimated shortage reduction amount to .65%, the user will get a snapshot of costs/savings in a generated PDF document. The Free Loss Prevention Calculator does all of the work for you and none of the information is sent anywhere or shared. Once you realize the answer to the question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” is, “ Yes, it can be!”, you can contact Loss Preventions Systems, inc. staff to discuss solutions to your shortage problems.
I noted earlier that there could be a negative Return On Investment if cost savings initiatives are not well thought out. You may decide that cutting staff will save you money. You look at what your saving will be, dollars/hour in payroll, benefits not having to be paid, training time, etc. The flip side to that coin you must consider is what will the impact be to the morale of the remaining employees? Who picks up the additional workload? Do you as the store owner now have to fill that role? If so, what will THAT effect be on your effectiveness at managing the operation of your store and ensuring all of your work continues to get done? Purchasing retail anti-theft equipment will improve profits and has been proven to reduce shortage for stores. To give you an example of a negative result of reducing an “expense”, according to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer, Apparel Specialty stores saw an increase in stock shortage from .60% in 2013-2014 to 2.28% in 2014-2015 (pg. 52). Spending on Loss Prevention during these time periods declined from .39% as a percent of total sales in 2013-2014 to just .24% in 2014-2015 (pgs. 56-57). Bottom line, less spending on Loss Prevention resulted in increased shrink and that is a poor ROI. The Loss Prevention ROI Calculator shows you how you can save money by making a smart purchasing decision in Loss Prevention Equipment.
Business owners need to always look at operations and find ways to improve results. Eliminating waste, streamlining how things are done and being open to new ideas are essential and must be done with consideration to what the Return On Investment will be. Investing money can ultimately lead to saving money too. Can Loss Prevention be free? Use the Loss Prevention ROI Calculator and see the impact Loss Prevention equipment can have for your business and how it can pay for itself.
Get more information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
