Poor Inventory Results? Take Action To Stop Shoplifting And Operational Losses By Creating A Shortage Action Plan

 

Electronic Article Surveillance – 4                                                                                          WC Blog 409
Stop Shoplifting -4
Poor Inventory Results? Take Action To Stop Shoplifting And Operational Losses By Creating A Shortage Action Plan
     Change quite often can be uncomfortable. Have you ever noticed that usually when people are sitting at their dinner table everyone has a particular seat they sit in? I know that in church my wife and I have a tendency to sit in the same seats. Consider your routines when you wake up in the morning. I have a set order I do things, I wake up, shower, walk the dogs, drink a pot of coffee, read from my Bible, brush my teeth and head off to work. I detest being late for something so I set my watch 10 minutes ahead (of course when I am going to go somewhere with my wife and I feel we are running late she tells me my watch is 10 minutes fast, “What’s the rush?”).The point I am trying to make is that we all get into routines and whether we want to admit it or not it can be difficult to change whether it is something about ourselves, something about our habits or something having to do with our environment. I believe retail owners who are reluctant to take adequate steps to stop shoplifting with the use of electronic article surveillance systems are avoiding changes they are not comfortable with.
     Electronic article surveillance systems use radio frequency waves transmitted from a tag or label and picked up by a receiver tower to sound an alarm when tagged merchandise is carried in the field of a tower. Some of the tags also have their own internal alarms that activate when a shoplifter tries to pry it off of merchandise. Because of the variety of tags and labels on the market through Checkpoint Systems and other companies, there are very few items that cannot be protected in one manner or another to stop shoplifting. There are labels that can be peeled from a roll and applied to boxes, shrink wrap, cloth and cardboard hang tags, etc. Hard tags are available that can be pinned to merchandise and not pulled off or detached without a removal key. Tagged goods are items that shoplifters prefer to leave alone. When shoplifters know that merchandise is protected with electronic article surveillance labels or tags they frequently choose to find another store rather than take the risk of being caught stealing.
    It is funny but when I first started as a Loss Prevention Manager we would conduct our inventory and get the results back. When I would begin work on a shortage action plan I remember trying to get other managers to give input. Inevitably the very first cause of shortage for almost ANY category was attributed to theft. Why? Well, first it is always easy to attribute shortage to theft, the primary responsibility for actions to address it fall on Loss Prevention in a big store. If other areas are identified that are related to operations, it meant someone else would have to take an active role in the plan. That also meant following up to ensure any action step was being followed. Lastly, it meant taking a hard look at one’s own department and taking responsibility for things that may not have been done correctly.
  I am of the opinion this is why many managers in retail don’t like to make shortage action plans or if they do make them they don’t always follow up on their plans after the first few weeks. I’ve run into this as a Loss Prevention Manager trying to work with the “store side” managers to create realistic plans and then follow through with them. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit…with shortage action plans I would say 21 months is more like it. For stores experiencing high inventory shortage, it is important to identify the areas/departments with the highest losses, look at the possible causes of the shortages and create action plans with action items, follow-ups and due dates. When theft is the issue, identify it and look for way to stop shoplifting or internal theft. When the issue involves operations call it as you see it, make a plan to fix the problem, execute the plan and follow up to make the store is doing what you committed to doing. If you are only making a plan for the sake of making a plan, don’t waste your time and don’t expect shortage to come down. 
     Electronic article surveillance can go a long way to stop shoplifting. Controls over vendors, stockroom access, shipment check-ins, etc. can make a significant impact on operational shortage. Remember, improving shortage results impacts profits and sales.
Get more information on electronic article surveillance, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.

Change quite often can be uncomfortable. Have you ever noticed that usually when people are sitting at their dinner table everyone has a particular seat they sit in? I know that in church my wife and I have a tendency to sit in the same seats. Consider your routines when you wake up in the morning. I have a set order I do things, I wake up, shower, walk the dogs, drink a pot of coffee, read from my Bible, brush my teeth and head off to work. I detest being late for something so I set my watch 10 minutes ahead (of course when I am going to go somewhere with my wife and I feel we are running late she tells me my watch is 10 minutes fast, “What’s the rush?”).The point I am trying to make is that we all get into routines and whether we want to admit it or not it can be difficult to change whether it is something about ourselves, something about our habits or something having to do with our environment. I believe retail owners who are reluctant to take adequate steps to stop shoplifting with the use of electronic article surveillance systems are avoiding changes they are not comfortable with.

Electronic article surveillance systems use radio frequency waves transmitted from a tag or label and picked up by a receiver tower to sound an alarm when tagged merchandise is carried in the field of a tower. Some of the tags also have their own internal alarms that activate when a shoplifter tries to pry it off of merchandise. Because of the variety of tags and labels on the market through Checkpoint Systems and other companies, there are very few items that cannot be protected in one manner or another to stop shoplifting. There are labels that can be peeled from a roll and applied to boxes, shrink wrap, cloth and cardboard hang tags, etc. Hard tags are available that can be pinned to merchandise and not pulled off or detached without a removal key. Tagged goods are items that shoplifters prefer to leave alone. When shoplifters know that merchandise is protected with electronic article surveillance labels or tags they frequently choose to find another store rather than take the risk of being caught stealing.

It is funny but when I first started as a Loss Prevention Manager we would conduct our inventory and get the results back. When I would begin work on a shortage action plan I remember trying to get other managers to give input. Inevitably the very first cause of shortage for almost ANY category was attributed to theft. Why? Well, first it is always easy to attribute shortage to theft, the primary responsibility for actions to address it fall on Loss Prevention in a big store. If other areas are identified that are related to operations, it meant someone else would have to take an active role in the plan. That also meant following up to ensure any action step was being followed. Lastly, it meant taking a hard look at one’s own department and taking responsibility for things that may not have been done correctly.

I am of the opinion this is why many managers in retail don’t like to make shortage action plans or if they do make them they don’t always follow up on their plans after the first few weeks. I’ve run into this as a Loss Prevention Manager trying to work with the “store side” managers to create realistic plans and then follow through with them. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit…with shortage action plans I would say 21 months is more like it. For stores experiencing high inventory shortage, it is important to identify the areas/departments with the highest losses, look at the possible causes of the shortages and create action plans with action items, follow-ups and due dates. When theft is the issue, identify it and look for way to stop shoplifting or internal theft. When the issue involves operations call it as you see it, make a plan to fix the problem, execute the plan and follow up to make the store is doing what you committed to doing. If you are only making a plan for the sake of making a plan, don’t waste your time and don’t expect shortage to come down. 

Electronic article surveillance can go a long way to stop shoplifting. Controls over vendors, stockroom access, shipment check-ins, etc. can make a significant impact on operational shortage. Remember, improving shortage results impacts profits and sales.

 

Get more information on electronic article surveillance, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.