There’s no other method than I know of to reduce losses caused by shoplifting than to have a high quality EAS System in place in your store. Walk into any retailer and you’re going to see those familiar towers at the front of the stores. Heck, you may not notice them, as some are very cleverly disguised with ad panels, but they are nonetheless there, standing guard 24 hours a day to prevent shrink. There’ a good chance that tower is part of a Checkpoint System the store has installed.
Let me take some time to clear up a lot of confusion that usually accompanies me when I talk about technology such as a Checkpoint System. Those towers that I was speaking about do not stop a thief. They simply alert you when a tag goes through them. Sometimes this is from theft, other times it’s from the failure of a cashier to properly deactivate the tag/label. So you should never accuse someone of shoplifting based solely on an EAS activation.
A great lesson came about two years ago. I received a phone call from one of my stores that stated that they had detained a shoplifter, but there was no merchandise on the shoplifter. The police had been contacted and a resulting search showed that no store product was found on this person. The manager told me that the shopper exited the store, activating the towers and was subsequently detained. When the dust settled, it was determined that the customer had stepped on a hard tag and it was stuck in their shoe unbeknownst to them. This customer sued our company and we were forced to financially compensate this individual for the store’s actions.
Your Checkpoint System should consist of both hard and soft tags. These should be placed in visible locations on high theft/high risk products. If you have a clothing store, you would use hard tags on those high end jeans or dresses. Labels can be used on a whole host of items. This is what gets the entire system working. Those tags and labels provide a great deterrent effect for any shoplifter. A thief wants to be able to steal their item relatively quickly. If they have to fight with a hard tag, or worry that the door will alarm when they leave, they will be less likely to steal that item. By using the Checkpoint System to your advantage, you can drastically reduce the amount of shoplifting losses you are seeing.
If you run a store that is not protected, then you are simply opening yourself up for loss. Whether you want to believe it or not, shoplifters are targeting your store every single day that you are open for business. They will find ways to steal from you and this ultimately costs you, your company and your customers. Simply saying you’re tired of shoplifting isn’t going to fix the problem. Get up, get out there and do something tangible that will positively affect your store and ultimately, your bottom line!
For more information, contact us: Checkpoint Systems, or call 1.770.426.0547