Alpha Shark Tags

Oddly enough signs of return fraud and wardrobing can be all around you when you go shopping and you can see it if you know what you are looking for. My wife and I both have backgrounds in retail sales. I have been in it for approximately 27 or so years, my wife was in sales and comparison shopping for around 15 years. Recently we were out clothing shopping and she stopped me and pointed out a dress that was hanging up on a rack. She said that someone had worn it out somewhere and returned it. Since her experience was in department store clothing sales and jewelry I believed her but I wanted to look a bit closer. Sure enough, a little bit of makeup was around the neckline and the dress looked wrinkled compared to the others. Despite this, the retailer kept it at the same price as the others and I thought this was silly. If I was the customer I would just take one that was in better condition. Why buy a dress in this condition? Walking through another store looking for shoes for our daughter we thought we found a pair. My wife stopped me from selecting them, she said they had been worn and returned. Sure enough I turned them over and there was dirt in the grooves of the sole and the inside of the shoe looked a bit dirty. We put the shoes back and had to go somewhere else to look for shoes for our daughter. Wardrobing costs stores in lost sales and lost profit margin. It can be prevented but it requires a firm return policy and the use of Shark Tags.
     

Wardrobing is not a common word but it is a form of return fraud and can be hard to defend against because it incorporates a legitimate purchase and appears to follow store return policies. Unlike other return fraud that can be caused by the theft of merchandise and an attempt to return it without a receipt. A person who is wardrobing purchases a clothing item and carefully hides or removes the manufacturer tags. They do not intend to keep the merchandise rather they buy to wear it a time or two and willfully return the item afterwards. All tags are put back, reattached or unhidden and the receipt is properly retained. A couple of issues are involved. Often the merchandise has stains (as my wife and I encountered), the items may have body, food or other odors clinging to it, a salesperson may lose commission when the clothes are returned and the store may have to mark the item down or out of stock entirely. It is not a victimless crime but it falls into a gray area that makes it difficult, if not impossible to prosecute.
     

The staff of Loss Prevention Systems Inc. knows that return fraud can make a significant dent in a retailer’s profits and their solution to the problem requires only the use of Shark Tags on all clothing. A Shark Tag is a one-time use bright red tag that is pinned to an item. The tag is to be placed where it will show prominently if the garment is worn in public. Because the tag will attract attention and cannot be reattached once removed, people who engage in wardrobing won’t buy clothes when Shark Tags are used by retailers. The key to making the use of the tags truly impactful is a store manager who requires ALL clothing to be tagged and adamantly refuses to accept any clothing return in which a tag has been removed. When properly applied and return policies enforced Shark Tags will cut down fraudulent returns and help stores improve profitability. It will also ensure that the clothes presented to customers like my wife and me, will be items we want to purchase…NEW!
     

Don’t get stung twice by the people who will buy your merchandise, wear it and return it. When you return the money for clothing someone had no intention of keeping and then you have to mark it down in order to sell it you are getting burned twice. Let Loss Prevention Systems Inc. help you stop being the victim of fraudulent activity and improve sales.

Need information on Wardrobing? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.

     

In the effort to increase sales and drive customer satisfaction many stores have implemented extremely liberal return and refund policies. I understand the premise behind this, make things easier for the customer, trust that they will not abuse your policies and they are more likely to be long-term patrons. Customer service can make or break a business and so balancing the need for making a profit with keeping your customer base happy can be tricky. In the office supplies store I work for we try hard to make reasonable returns for our patrons. A customer may bring back an ink cartridge for a printer without a receipt and explain that they had picked out the wrong one. They may be required to produce a picture I.D. but unless they have completed too many no receipt returns they will be able to get a refund. It’s good business. Many times they will turn around and purchase the correct cartridge. For non-clothing merchandise this can be easier to do than conducting refunds for clothing, whether the customer has the receipt or not. There are customers who engage in something called wardrobing and this fraud can make it hard on store managers to not tighten up return policies. Stores do have one sure method to fight this type of return fraud and that is the use of Alpha Shark Tags on clothing.

What is wardrobing? Why is it so deceptive? What are Alpha Shark Tags and how can they prevent this kind of fraud? Wardrobing is an intentional act of purchasing clothing with the knowledge that the clothes will be worn a time or two and returned for a full refund. It is deceptive because of the intent behind it and those who do it find ways to keep the tags intact on the merchandise. Sometimes the tags are taped inside the clothes for example up the sleeve of a shirt, or hanging inside the collar. In extreme cases the perpetrator will use a swift tag attachment gun to reattach tags to clothing. In this type of fraud the “customer” has the original receipt and all tags match up to it. Alpha Shark Tags prevent this type of return fraud because they can only be removed once and that is by being cut off. When merchandise is purchased these tags are left on the items. The customer gets the item home, tries it on again and if they are sure they want the item, the customer cuts off the tag and wears the item. The store has a crystal clear return policy that lets the patron know they cannot make a return once the tag is removed.

Why can’t the customer who is intent on wardrobing simply hide the Alpha Shark Tag like they do with the manufacturer hang tags? The reason is that the tags are a bright red color so they stand out on the clothing. When properly pinned in a highly visible location such as on a shirt sleeve or pant leg seam the tag can’t be concealed. It becomes obvious to others that the person wearing the clothing intends to return it. The façade of someone trying to look like they have an ever-growing wardrobe is stripped bare.

Does the use of the Shark Tag hurt the retailer who is trying to be flexible with their customers? I don’t believe it does. The customers who are honest will understand the purpose of the tags. The tags don’t negate the ability of a customer to return defective merchandise if a tag has been removed. What they do prevent is someone wearing clothes to a party, getting them stained with food or drink or drowned in perfume or cologne and then getting a refund the next day.

Is a liberal return policy what drives profits? I don’t know that it does. I think what drives sales is great customer service, beginning with a friendly sales staff. Sales are driven when we take time to talk with our customers, learn what they are looking for and give advice on what we honestly think will enhance their purchase or their needs. Honest customers don’t expect a retailer to be the victim of return fraud or to lose money they want fair treatment and usually will reciprocate in kind. 

Alpha Shark Tags are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 now.

I’m going to do something you don’t often see, I’m writing an article about return fraud and sharks, an unusual combination right? Now, I don’t know about you but I really enjoy watching shows about sharks. It may be Shark Week on the Discovery Channel or (I’m dating myself here) The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and it can even be the movie, “Jaws”. With that information in mind I thought I would share a few interesting facts about sharks from Discovery.com in an article titled, “The 15 Most Surprising Facts About Sharks”, by Anastacia Darby, 06/04/2015:

• The whale shark is not only the largest shark species; they are also the largest fish in the world at over 40 feet long.

• The gestation period for a pregnant shark can last from 5 months to TWO YEARS!

• It has been estimated that the bite of the great white shark is up to 4000 PSI. For comparison a tiger has a bite of around 1000 PSI

• Some sharks can cycle through up to 35,000 teeth in a lifetime.

• The blue shark can give birth to up to 135 pups in one litter!

• Hammerhead sharks’ heads aren’t just for show they are equipped with electrical sensors which makes them superior hunters.

Finally from sportfishingmag.com, February 1, 2017 by Devin Golden, “Tagged Mako Shark Travels Record Distance”; “After 600 days, the mako shark, named Hells Bay, After Hells’ Bay Boatworks, traveled more than 13,000 and broke a GHRI for the shark species in the Atlantic Ocean.” While it may not break any bite pounds per square inch records or distance traveled records, Alpha Shark Tags can help stores break the number of people engaging in return fraud due to wardrobing.
     

Wardrobing takes place when a person buys clothes with the intention of wearing them on only one or two occasions and then returning them with the tags on them and the receipt in hand. While it may not seem like return fraud in the traditional sense of the word such as when someone steals an item and then tries to return it for a refund, when wardrobing takes place there are several hits a store takes. A salesperson who earns a commission may lose their commission when the item is returned after spending time with the customer trying to help them with the purchase. The items are frequently returned damaged so merchandise is returned at full price paid and then damaged out or marked fully out of stock. An item that was stolen may be returned for a reduced price if it has taken a mark down or a store credit is issued when no receipt is presented. But no salesperson is losing a commission and if a receipt is not provided there may be less financial impact on the store. It is also likely the merchandise that was stolen won’t be returned damaged because the thief wants as much money as possible. When Alpha Shark Tags are used on merchandise it prevents wardrobing because it has to be on the merchandise when it is returned in order to get a refund. The tags are one-time use only meaning that the tag stays on a garment until the purchaser pays and takes the item home. Once the buyer decides to keep the item and wear it, THEN the tag is removed by the customer and the item cannot be returned at that point.
     

The potential for sharks to be in the water give most of us a pause before we go into the ocean or even in rivers, in some instances. For example bull sharks can and do swim in canals and rivers in Florida. We see videos and pictures in the news and on the computer in websites like YouTube and get a little squeamish about dipping a toe in the water after all. Well, those who participate in return fraud pause to reconsider what they are about to do when they see Alpha Shark Tags being used by a merchant. 
     

Consider using Alpha Shark Tags on your merchandise and watch your profits go up as fraud declines. No shark cage necessary, the only people who need to fear are the con-artists who try to take advantage of retailers.

For more information about Alpha Shark Tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547