REDUCE SHRINKAGE BY UTILZING THE ALPHA HANG TAG IMMEDIATELY!
Prevent Shoplifitng-3 ML Blog 22
Alpha Hang Tag- 4
Shoplifting is one of the most serious problems in retailers. A lot of stores may not realize how MASSIVE the problem is. Shoplifters are one of the highest contributors to shrinkage for the retail industry. Shrinkage costs the retailers over $45 billion each year! It takes a massive bite right out of your bottom line. With this said, are you doing enough to put a stop to shrinkage in your location? Retailers have many ways to protect their assets from thieves. In Loss Prevention, I utilize the most advanced security devices available and always embrace new technology. Most retailers will place regular hard tags and wraps on their products as a theft deterrent to prevent shoplifting. That program works as a prevention for boxed and clothing items, but not for our clamshell packaged merchandise. This leaves many high dollar product without proper security protection from thieves. Many stores are forgetting about those areas, which leads to a trending high amount of loss each year. By utilizing an Alpha Hang Tag, you finally put a stop to shrink in these areas!
I have worked as Loss Prevention Manager in several different retail locations. Several of them did not realize the newest technology out there for merchandise protection. I would start working at a new location, and it would never fail I would only see hard tags, ink tags, or spider wraps. One of my locations had a big electronics department. 60 percent of the product in this department consisted of clamshell products. They would have heavy TV’s spider wrapped, leaving pegs of merchandise over $200.00 priced without protection. I understand why they were doing the 60 inch TV’s, due to the high price point. However, I had to explain to them that the chance of a heavy TV walking out the door was rarer then several people stealing the smaller pegged, high dollar items. I pulled their shrink reports, and was able to show them the difference. They did not have any TVs missing in a 3 years trend! They did have high shrink each year in the pegged products. Yet they were still protecting only the TVs, versus the most stolen items? They had to start thinking smarter than the shoplifters to prevent shoplifting in their store. I had to change their way of thinking, and help them understand the importance of utilizing the Alpha Hang Tag. Once I conducted a meeting with the managers, there was a few concerns by them. One manager asked “Why can’t we just use locking peg hooks, since we already have some in the back?”. I explained, “If we place the merchandise on a locking peg hook, its normal to think it was protected and the merchandise could not be removed unless an associate unlocked the peg. However, a thief can come through with a knife and cut the top of the plastic off easily”. Locking pegs are also not customer friendly for retailers, making the customer wait till they find an associate. I needed to show them what has worked for me in the past. I started with a story that I know all too well. I watched one evening via CCTV, 2 shoplifters come through an aisle of high dollar merchandise on pegs. I noticed one of the subjects, digging an item out of his pocket. It ended up being a Kershaw Knife. Next, I saw on camera him cut a whole row of product off. The second subject grabs all of the product, stuffing them into an empty bag. After concealing, the first subject exits and gets the car ready for the second subject. He pulls up to the curb, and the subject with the bag filled jumps in! Not only did he get away with 8 expensive items, but it could have been a scary situation for associates and customers! Once I explained my story to the managers, everyone knew we had to change the culture! We had to put a stop to the thieves from coming in, using knives to steal items right underneath our nose. After figuring out where the issue was, I was able to get approval to order the Alpha Hang Tag. I received my first shipment in quickly, and we placed them on our high dollar pegged products. After 2 months of usage and tracking, we found 0 product was cut off by thieves. This was a huge win for my store! Now they understand what action plans really work to prevent shoplifting. One feedback received was how much they liked the size of the Alpha Hang tag is, making it very customer friendly for shopping. It is also extremely easy to put on, so it does not take inordinate amounts of time for the associates to put on. I have had heard nothing but positive feedback from the store staff after utilizing our new security tags!
After having such a high success rate, I was able to obtain approval to order more and place it on other products as well. The store team trusted my expertise, leading to using the best products out there! The following year, we had a shrink reduction in our problem areas. The best part for the store was not finding tons of cut open packaging daily, knowing that we were able to prevent shoplifting!
Get more information on the Alpha Hang Tag, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Shoplifting is one of the most serious problems in retailers. A lot of stores may not realize how MASSIVE the problem is. Shoplifters are one of the highest contributors to shrinkage for the retail industry. Shrinkage costs the retailers over $45 billion each year! It takes a massive bite right out of your bottom line. With this said, are you doing enough to put a stop to shrinkage in your location? Retailers have many ways to protect their assets from thieves. In Loss Prevention, I utilize the most advanced security devices available and always embrace new technology. Most retailers will place regular hard tags and wraps on their products as a theft deterrent to prevent shoplifting. That program works as a prevention for boxed and clothing items, but not for our clamshell packaged merchandise. This leaves many high dollar product without proper security protection from thieves. Many stores are forgetting about those areas, which leads to a trending high amount of loss each year. By utilizing an Alpha Hang Tag, you finally put a stop to shrink in these areas!
I have worked as Loss Prevention Manager in several different retail locations. Several of them did not realize the newest technology out there for merchandise protection. I would start working at a new location, and it would never fail I would only see hard tags, ink tags, or spider wraps. One of my locations had a big electronics department. 60 percent of the product in this department consisted of clamshell products. They would have heavy TV’s spider wrapped, leaving pegs of merchandise over $200.00 priced without protection. I understand why they were doing the 60 inch TV’s, due to the high price point. However, I had to explain to them that the chance of a heavy TV walking out the door was rarer then several people stealing the smaller pegged, high dollar items. I pulled their shrink reports, and was able to show them the difference. They did not have any TVs missing in a 3 years trend! They did have high shrink each year in the pegged products. Yet they were still protecting only the TVs, versus the most stolen items? They had to start thinking smarter than the shoplifters to prevent shoplifting in their store. I had to change their way of thinking, and help them understand the importance of utilizing the Alpha Hang Tag. Once I conducted a meeting with the managers, there was a few concerns by them. One manager asked “Why can’t we just use locking peg hooks, since we already have some in the back?”. I explained, “If we place the merchandise on a locking peg hook, its normal to think it was protected and the merchandise could not be removed unless an associate unlocked the peg. However, a thief can come through with a knife and cut the top of the plastic off easily”. Locking pegs are also not customer friendly for retailers, making the customer wait till they find an associate. I needed to show them what has worked for me in the past. I started with a story that I know all too well. I watched one evening via CCTV, 2 shoplifters come through an aisle of high dollar merchandise on pegs. I noticed one of the subjects, digging an item out of his pocket. It ended up being a Kershaw Knife. Next, I saw on camera him cut a whole row of product off. The second subject grabs all of the product, stuffing them into an empty bag. After concealing, the first subject exits and gets the car ready for the second subject. He pulls up to the curb, and the subject with the bag filled jumps in! Not only did he get away with 8 expensive items, but it could have been a scary situation for associates and customers! Once I explained my story to the managers, everyone knew we had to change the culture! We had to put a stop to the thieves from coming in, using knives to steal items right underneath our nose. After figuring out where the issue was, I was able to get approval to order the Alpha Hang Tag. I received my first shipment in quickly, and we placed them on our high dollar pegged products. After 2 months of usage and tracking, we found 0 product was cut off by thieves. This was a huge win for my store! Now they understand what action plans really work to prevent shoplifting. One feedback received was how much they liked the size of the Alpha Hang tag is, making it very customer friendly for shopping. It is also extremely easy to put on, so it does not take inordinate amounts of time for the associates to put on. I have had heard nothing but positive feedback from the store staff after utilizing our new security tags!
After having such a high success rate, I was able to obtain approval to order more and place it on other products as well. The store team trusted my expertise, leading to using the best products out there! The following year, we had a shrink reduction in our problem areas. The best part for the store was not finding tons of cut open packaging daily, knowing that we were able to prevent shoplifting!
Get more information on the Alpha Hang Tag, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
