Retailers are keenly aware that when they prevent theft they will at the same time increase profits. Because inventory shrinkage figures into operating costs, reducing inventory losses will boost profits. You might be surprised to know that another benefit is reducing inventory shrinkage will also increase sales numbers.
A recent survey conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers studied a supermarket chain tracking 98 unique product sku’s. The first four weeks they measured inventory shrinkage to set a baseline. At the end of the four weeks a Checkpoint Security System was installed to prevent theft and it included pedestal antennas at entry / exit ways that react to tags, labels which look like bar codes, “keepers” which are plastic transparent boxes that deny product access and hard tags that are pinned to merchandise and the 98 sku’s were measured for ten weeks.
What they found was surprising; not only did they record a remarkable reduction of 69.79% in inventory shrinkage but additionally measured an increase in sales of 9.2%! This proved the theory that if you prevent theft you will naturally sell more product. The reason is simply because there is more product available for sale, which proves keeping shelves stocked with product and available for sale is critical to building profits.
The PWC survey focused on how to prevent shoplifting. This is mostly incoming “customer” traffic taking product out the front door; however, some employee theft goes out the front door too.
There are many ways to prevent theft in retail environments as well as many types of theft to consider when designing a loss prevention program.
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If you are not aggressively trying to prevent shoplifting in your retail store your profits will suffer. Shoplifters are not going away. In fact as un-employment continues to be high and the economy remains unstable a higher percentage of people are shoplifting to get what they need and want. We also know from studies that shoplifters shift to unprotected retailers.
From experience, I know that when shoplifters know that you are an easy target they will hit you over and over. Shoplifters will also tell their shoplifter friends about your store (“Hey they are asleep at the switch in there. They are clueless”). Over time you become “the store of choice”. Without realizing it your profits get slowly worse.
What measures do you take to prevent shoplifting?
- Training!!! Have an Anti-shoplifting training program. Doing it once feels good for a while but like any other business issue unless you make it a priority your employees will loose interest over time. You have to refresh and train new people.
- Install a Checkpoint Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) system. Label and tag a select group of merchandise. EAS is a labor multiplier. Spend less labor dollars to cover the same amount of sales floor. Shoplifters are caught at the door. This creates deterrence. Word will get around.
- Don’t be afraid to approach suspected shoplifters. Their goal is to be anonymous. Let them know you are aware, see and are helping them. Shoplifters hate customer service. Give them their fill! If necessary stand right there with them providing exceptional customer service.
Waiting to prevent shoplifting is like hoping that engine knock in your car will get better on it’s own. YOU can fix the problem. Step back and objectively look at your operation now. You might be surprised what you see.
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Think of this, a shoplifter in your clothing area wants to steal a shirt. They conceal the shirt and leave. They get away and are not caught. Do you think they be back? Oh yeah!
Now consider this, when they get home (somewhere under a slimy rock) they take out their new shirt and discover a Checkpoint Chekink tag attached. OK now what do they do?
They will have to forcefully remove the Clothing Security Tag. When they do, long before the tag is broken off the two vials of pressurized ink/dye break the brightly colored mixture spreads out on the shirt staining it forever. And because the vials are pressurized the ink does not just seep out.
But wait; let’s put the entire shirt and Chekink tag in the freezer. Once we freeze the tag we try to then force it off. Sorry, we thought of that. The ink/dye in the glass vials are made with a solution that has anti-freeze. Oops, still pressurized and still liquid. Think they will come back to shoplift from you again? Probably not but your competitor down the street….
What about accidents by your store personnel? Won’t we ruin some merchandise? A high amount of force is required to break the vials and normal use does not cause a problem. Hit them with a hammer and we may have an issue. This is a clothing security tag with an attitude. Oh and by the way they work with any checkpoint hard tag or by themselves!
Think of this, a shoplifter in your clothing area wants to steal a shirt. They conceal the shirt and leave. They get away and are not caught. Do you think they be back? Oh yeah!
Now consider this, when they get home (somewhere under a slimy rock) they take out their new shirt and discover a Checkpoint Chekink tag attached. OK now what do they do?
They will have to forcefully remove the clothing security tag. When they do, long before the tag is broken off the two vials of pressurized ink/dye break the brightly colored mixture spreads out on the shirt staining it forever. And because the vials are pressurized the ink does not just seep out.
But wait; let’s put the entire shirt and Chekink tag in the freezer. Once we freeze the tag we try to then force it off. Sorry, we thought of that. The ink/dye in the glass vials are made with a solution that has anti-freeze. Oops, still pressurized and still liquid. Think they will come back to shoplift from you again? Probably not but your competitor down the street….
What about accidents by your store personnel? Won’t we ruin some merchandise? A high amount of force is required to break the vials and normal use does not cause a problem. Hit them with a hammer and we may have an issue. This is a clothing security tag with an attitude. Oh and by the way they work with any checkpoint hard tag or by themselves!
Checkpoint has released a new, dynamic clothing security tag. Called the “3G Hard Tag With Super Lock”, this tag is a bi-color gray/white. 3G’s are similar in size to the standard mini-hard tag.
3G’s will solve several problems in the mini-hard tag arena. Knockoffs that are cheap imports have been made to look identical to the Checkpoint mini hard tag, Genuine Checkpoint mini hard tags have the Checkpoint logo. Most knockoffs have rough edges that snag and damage clothing. They also have poor locking clutches that do not function smoothly. This causes frustration at checkout. The 3G has a hole located near the clutch that will take a flex string. This is used to loop the flex string through larger items and allows you to use the tag more diverse situations.
The 3G clothing security tags by Checkpoint will require a Checkpoint super detacher, which means that shoplifters will not be able to remove them. Store personnel will place the 3G the same as any other hard tag. Using a pin place them on a seam, top rear of a shirt below the collar, eyelet of a shoe, etc. Use the same pins you already have.
An additional clothing security tag suggestion is to place a label such as a 410 barcode in a pocket in addition to the hard tag. This will double your security for a few pennies more.
