Stop Shoplifting with a Well Trained Team

Every single day that you come to work, you find empty packages. You conduct your weekly inventory and cycle counts and you find losses. You find evidence of employee pilferage in warehouses and stockrooms. Your business is bleeding and you need to find ways to stop shoplifting. You’re not the first manager/owner to be here, nor will you be the last. One thing every retailer learns is that theft is a reality of the business, but there are ways to reduce, minimize and ultimately stop it before it bankrupts you. 
You want to stop shoplifting altogether? Take your entire store, put it behind a locked glass door and don’t open the doors to the public. Not a very sustainable business plan is it? I’ve been in the Loss Prevention field for quite some time, and the same problems persist at nearly every store I’ve ever stepped foot in. Whether it’s one of my stores, a client’s or a place that I’m shopping at. I can see the ways business can be improved upon in order to maintain a healthier financial status. 
First and foremost, if you want to stop shoplifting, train your employees. More importantly, train your cashiers. They are your last line of defense. The point of sale is a window of opportunity for a criminal. They can hide merchandise inside other bulkier items, switch tickets, pull quick change cash schemes, pass counterfeit money/credit cards, steal register keys and conduct fraudulent return transactions. A well trained cashier can prevent these incidents from every happening. There’s always time for training, so I encourage your store leads to showcase new and/or high priced items daily to the cashier staff. Familiarize them with the expensive product so a potential price switch can be identified. Train them to spot counterfeits and stress the importance of LISA (Look Inside Always) and BOB (Bottom of Basket). 
Customer service should be on everyone’s priority lists. Sure, shelves have to be stocked, shipments taken in, aisles cleaned up… etc, but at the end of the day, the customer is your life blood. It’s the reason your doors are able to remain open. It should be a surprise that without that customer, you have no business. So your staff should engaged every single person that comes through your doors. This will do two things. It will help you stop shoplifting and help increase your sales. A shoplifter doesn’t want to be noticed. If your staff is always alert and always there to provide assistance, how can they stick that shirt in their purse? 
Lastly, put in physical security measures. Using an effective EAS system and corresponding tags and labels on your high theft/high risk product will ensure that your product remains in your store, available to the paying customer. There is no single way to prevent losses, but taking a multi-pronged approached and always keeping an open mind can help your business minimize the impact of theft. 
For more information, contact us: Stop Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547

Every single day that you come to work, you find empty packages. You conduct your weekly inventory and cycle counts and you find losses. You find evidence of employee pilferage in warehouses and stockrooms. Your business is bleeding and you need to find ways to stop shoplifting. You’re not the first manager/owner to be here, nor will you be the last. One thing every retailer learns is that theft is a reality of the business, but there are ways to reduce, minimize and ultimately stop it before it bankrupts you.

You want to stop shoplifting altogether? Take your entire store, put it behind a locked glass door and don’t open the doors to the public. Not a very sustainable business plan is it? I’ve been in the Loss Prevention field for quite some time, and the same problems persist at nearly every store I’ve ever stepped foot in. Whether it’s one of my stores, a client’s or a place that I’m shopping at. I can see the ways business can be improved upon in order to maintain a healthier financial status. 

 First and foremost, if you want to stop shoplifting, train your employees. More importantly, train your cashiers. They are your last line of defense. The point of sale is a window of opportunity for a criminal. They can hide merchandise inside other bulkier items, switch tickets, pull quick change cash schemes, pass counterfeit money/credit cards, steal register keys and conduct fraudulent return transactions. A well trained cashier can prevent these incidents from every happening. There’s always time for training, so I encourage your store leads to showcase new and/or high priced items daily to the cashier staff. Familiarize them with the expensive product so a potential price switch can be identified. Train them to spot counterfeits and stress the importance of LISA (Look Inside Always) and BOB (Bottom of Basket). 

 Customer service should be on everyone’s priority lists. Sure, shelves have to be stocked, shipments taken in, aisles cleaned up… etc, but at the end of the day, the customer is your life blood. It’s the reason your doors are able to remain open. It should be a surprise that without that customer, you have no business. So your staff should engaged every single person that comes through your doors. This will do two things. It will help you stop shoplifting and help increase your sales. A shoplifter doesn’t want to be noticed. If your staff is always alert and always there to provide assistance, how can they stick that shirt in their purse? 

 Lastly, put in physical security measures. Using an Checkpoint EAS System and corresponding tags and labels on your high theft/high risk product will ensure that your product remains in your store, available to the paying customer. There is no single way to prevent losses, but taking a multi-pronged approached and always keeping an open mind can help your business minimize the impact of theft. 

 For more information, contact us at Stop Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547