PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN TO THEFT WITH ALPHA INK TAGS

PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN TO THEFT WITH ALPHA INK TAGS
It’s my job to prevent shoplifting; No, it’s my calling. I wake up every day of the week, get dressed and walk in the absolute best job I’ve ever had. I get to catch criminals, I get to weed out dishonest employees and I get to help my company see measurable success as reducing losses and improving profits. There’s no other job that I would ever want to do. Often, it requires some really “out of the box” type thinking. I always need to stay one step ahead of the thieves. 
Not long ago, I was assigned a project to reduce external theft losses of our 5 highest shrinking styles of footwear. These 5 styles accounted for nearly 45% of all footwear losses. From our research, we were able to determine that the vast majority of this loss came from external theft. While we did have dishonest employees and vendor issues, it was evident that it I was going to reduce shrink, I needed to first prevent shoplifting. 
Footwear is pretty tricky. First, you have to work in an “open sell” environment. I don’t have limitless payroll, so the stock needs to be out and accessible to the customer. I have to display every shoe, even the ones that are shrinking more than they are selling. I also need to incorporate a security device that does not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the product on before they buy it (incredibly important when selling a shoe). I was left with very little choices in hard tags. I needed something that was going to not only stop a career thief, but would serve as a deterrent for those opportunistic thieves. Cue the Alpha Ink Tag. 
There are two EAS tags that I couldn’t live without; spider wraps and of course Alpha Ink Tags. After trying out about a dozen other hard tags, I settled on the ink tags; here’s why. For starters, I was able to prominently display the tag on the tongue of the shoe. This made it quite clear to any potential thief that there was one heck of a tag on the shoe. Second, it did not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the shoe on, nor did it negatively impact my ability to effectively merchandise the shoe on my wall. Finally, it was a show-stopper for the thief. They knew that if they tried to tamper with the tag, it would ruin their newly stolen product, and who wants to walk around with ink stained shoes?
Once in place, the results were pretty dramatic. This simple tool had single handedly allowed me to prevent shoplifting on my highest shrinking shoes. While normally associated with apparel items, I found that this seemed to be a unique way of using the Alpha Ink Tag. After reaching out to several industry peers, I found out that I was the only one using them in this way; but that soon changed. When I tell you that my shrink virtually stopped, I’m not exaggerating. I went from losing 20-30 pairs of shoes a day between my 10 stores to losing no more than 10 combined in a month’s time. 
Before long, as a company we were using Alpha Ink Tags on all of our shoes that retail over $79. This lead to a 84% reduction in footwear shrink all thanks to a little outside thinking and use of a tag not really intended for shoes. If you are a seller of shoes and you find that too many are simply walking out of the door, give the Alpha Ink Tag a shot at helping you to keep those sales. I guarantee that this shoe will fit. 
Alpha Hard Tags important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk. 


It’s my job to prevent shoplifting; No, it’s my calling. I wake up every day of the week, get dressed and walk in the absolute best job I’ve ever had. I get to catch criminals, I get to weed out dishonest employees and I get to help my company see measurable success as reducing losses and improving profits. There’s no other job that I would ever want to do. Often, it requires some really “out of the box” type thinking. I always need to stay one step ahead of the thieves. 

 

Not long ago, I was assigned a project to reduce external theft losses of our 5 highest shrinking styles of footwear. These 5 styles accounted for nearly 45% of all footwear losses. From our research, we were able to determine that the vast majority of this loss came from external theft. While we did have dishonest employees and vendor issues, it was evident that it I was going to reduce shrink, I needed to first prevent shoplifting. 

 

Footwear is pretty tricky. First, you have to work in an “open sell” environment. I don’t have limitless payroll, so the stock needs to be out and accessible to the customer. I have to display every shoe, even the ones that are shrinking more than they are selling. I also need to incorporate a security device that does not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the product on before they buy it (incredibly important when selling a shoe). I was left with very little choices in hard tags. I needed something that was going to not only stop a career thief, but would serve as a deterrent for those opportunistic thieves. Cue the Alpha Ink Tag. 

 

There are two EAS tags that I couldn’t live without; spider wraps and of course Alpha Ink Tags. After trying out about a dozen other hard tags, I settled on the ink tags; here’s why. For starters, I was able to prominently display the tag on the tongue of the shoe. This made it quite clear to any potential thief that there was one heck of a tag on the shoe. Second, it did not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the shoe on, nor did it negatively impact my ability to effectively merchandise the shoe on my wall. Finally, it was a show-stopper for the thief. They knew that if they tried to tamper with the tag, it would ruin their newly stolen product, and who wants to walk around with ink stained shoes?

 

Once in place, the results were pretty dramatic. This simple tool had single handedly allowed me to prevent shoplifting on my highest shrinking shoes. While normally associated with apparel items, I found that this seemed to be a unique way of using the Alpha Ink Tag. After reaching out to several industry peers, I found out that I was the only one using them in this way; but that soon changed. When I tell you that my shrink virtually stopped, I’m not exaggerating. I went from losing 20-30 pairs of shoes a day between my 10 stores to losing no more than 10 combined in a month’s time. 

 

Before long, as a company we were using Alpha Ink Tags on all of our shoes that retail over $79. This lead to a 84% reduction in footwear shrink all thanks to a little outside thinking and use of a tag not really intended for shoes. If you are a seller of shoes and you find that too many are simply walking out of the door, give the Alpha Ink Tag a shot at helping you to keep those sales. I guarantee that this shoe will fit. 

 

Alpha Hard Tags important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.