RWH Blog 03
Target Hardening through Retail Anti-Theft Devices
When your inventory of DVDs on the sales floor comes up short, where do you think they went? Often you come to the conclusion they must have been shoplifted. The same can be said for your CD sales or your games for your console game system, but especially for your razor blades, fragrances and other small, easily concealable high shrink products. That does not have to be the case however. There are numerous retail anti-theft devices that can help ensure that shoplifting is the last shrink category upon which you attribute inventory losses. Let’s take advantage of technology and “target harden” our merchandise through such items as Alpha keepers for one!
Shoplifters are basically lazy and do not want to work too hard to get your merchandise into their hands and out the doors. It then may come back as returned merchandise to you so you can pay for it twice or you may see your merchandise alongside used stereos and knock off purses and watches on Craig’s List or EBay. Shoplifters are also fearful of apprehension and being noticed so noise, lights, and displays they have to “fight” with make them think that there are much softer targets out there they should visit rather than spending the time and risking getting caught in your store – if you are using retail anti-theft devices.
This author is intimately familiar with such devices as they were used in companies I had the pleasure with being associated. It gives a loss prevention manager and thus a retail store manager a great deal of peace-of-mind when he sees his high theft movie DVDs protected with such hardened keepers as the Protect DVD or Protect CD. These products roll bells, lights, and whistles all into retail anti-theft devices that make the shoplifter think that he should just wear a sign saying “please arrest me.” You see, these Alpha keepers are hardened polycarbonate cases with a magnetic lock that are transparent so your product is still plainly visible, including the bar code, to your customer. They have their own built in electronic article sensor (EAS) tag as well as some other surprises for a would-be thief, including a tamper alarm if the thief tries to open the case without the special magnetic key and a built in alarm that will go off after the item leaves your store with or without an EAS system in place. They also have lights that blink on and off as a visual deterrent but pose no unnecessary delay for your cashier in getting the device off and getting your customer checked-out. They can also still be hung on a hanger without difficulty.
One wishes he had a digital movie camera in hand when the would-be thief, unfamiliar with retail anti-theft devices, tries to open a Protect DVD or Protect CD in the store to get to the merchandise and conceal it and the alarm goes off, forcing him to try to muffle it with his hand or stick it down his pants so it does not make so much noise and draw so much attention – too late. You then need a close-up zoom feature for that look when you tell him that tampering with retail anti-theft devices in your state is a felony and constitutes shoplifting in itself.
Wrapping this up … target hardening will help a retailer sleep better at night, knowing that his high-theft merchandise is where it needs to be: either in the paying customer’s possession or in the store in a Protect DVD or Protect CD waiting for the paying customer. It will also send the aspiring shoplifter down the street to your competitor for fear of you featuring him on America’s Funniest Home Videos!
For more information on Alpha Keeprs contact us: 1.770.426.0547.
When your inventory of DVDs on the sales floor comes up short, where do you think they went? Often you come to the conclusion they must have been shoplifted. The same can be said for your CD sales or your games for your console game system, but especially for your razor blades, fragrances and other small, easily concealable high shrink products. That does not have to be the case however. There are numerous retail anti-theft devices that can help ensure that shoplifting is the last shrink category upon which you attribute inventory losses. Let’s take advantage of technology and “target harden” our merchandise through such items as Alpha keepers for one!
Shoplifters are basically lazy and do not want to work too hard to get your merchandise into their hands and out the doors. It then may come back as returned merchandise to you so you can pay for it twice or you may see your merchandise alongside used stereos and knock off purses and watches on Craig’s List or EBay. Shoplifters are also fearful of apprehension and being noticed so noise, lights, and displays they have to “fight” with make them think that there are much softer targets out there they should visit rather than spending the time and risking getting caught in your store – if you are using retail anti-theft devices.
This author is intimately familiar with such devices as they were used in companies I had the pleasure with being associated. It gives a loss prevention manager and thus a retail store manager a great deal of peace-of-mind when he sees his high theft movie DVDs protected with such hardened keepers as the Protect DVD or Protect CD. These products roll bells, lights, and whistles all into retail anti-theft devices that make the shoplifter think that he should just wear a sign saying “please arrest me.” You see, these Alpha keepers are hardened polycarbonate cases with a magnetic lock that are transparent so your product is still plainly visible, including the bar code, to your customer. They have their own built in electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag as well as some other surprises for a would-be thief, including a tamper alarm if the thief tries to open the case without the special magnetic key and a built in alarm that will go off after the item leaves your store with or without an EAS system in place. They also have lights that blink on and off as a visual deterrent but pose no unnecessary delay for your cashier in getting the device off and getting your customer checked-out. They can also still be hung on a hanger without difficulty.
One wishes he had a digital movie camera in hand when the would-be thief, unfamiliar with retail anti-theft devices, tries to open a Protect DVD or Protect CD in the store to get to the merchandise and conceal it and the alarm goes off, forcing him to try to muffle it with his hand or stick it down his pants so it does not make so much noise and draw so much attention – too late. You then need a close-up zoom feature for that look when you tell him that tampering with retail anti-theft devices in your state is a felony and constitutes shoplifting in itself.
Wrapping this up … target hardening will help a retailer sleep better at night, knowing that his high-theft merchandise is where it needs to be: either in the paying customer’s possession or in the store in a Protect DVD or Protect CD waiting for the paying customer. It will also send the aspiring shoplifter down the street to your competitor for fear of you featuring him on America’s Funniest Home Videos!
For more information on Alpha Keepers contact us: 1.770.426.0547.
