Most of your customers understand that liquor stores experience theft, and you have to take measures to protect your merchandise.  Just be sure that the by taking steps to secure your merchandise, you are not seriously inconveniencing the customer.  There are easy solutions that provide both bottle security and convenience.  You don’t want to have your customers confusing your store with some kind of liquor museum full of merchandise they can’t touch, but you also want to ensure they are paying for the merchandise when they leave the store.

I have had shoplifters that literally fill a shopping cart full of alcoholic beverages, and push it right out of the store without paying.  While not every shoplifting incident causes that much loss all at once, one or two bottles here and there will start to add up to a lot of money.  This is why it is so important that you take steps to ensure that your merchandise is secured, and to reduce the chances that people will feel comfortable stealing in your store.  You’ll want to use a combination of bottle security and customer service to bring this feeling into your store.

With bottle locks, it’s easy to secure any of your bottle products.  If putting a device on a bottle and cranking it can help reduce your loss of products and lift your profits, it would just be illogical not to take full advantage of them to ensure your inventory is protected.   The amount of loss you can incur by leaving your inventory unprotected drastically outweighs the cost of protection.  If a potential thief sees that your bottles are secured, they are going to have to ask themselves if the merchandise is even worth taking.  Not only would they have to steal the stuff, but they also have to hope that by some miracle, they figure out a way to get the bottle locks off the items without causing any damage to the bottle, which is not likely.  

You want to create an environment of comfort for the paying customer, and one of discomfort for the shoplifters.  You can achieve this balance by using devices like the EASy bottle, which protects your merchandise, but that is also easy for you to remove from the product at the register.  This way the customers aren’t waiting around for long periods of time at the register, because it only takes a second to remove the bottle locks.  

By the time the customer is checking out at the register, they have already spent time shopping in your store, and waiting in line.  The last thing you want them to do is become upset about having to wait on someone to remove a security device.  I know that when I am waiting in line at a store, a couple minutes can feel like an eternity.  You want to get them through the lines quick, and keep them as happy, loyal customers.  Bottle security devices typically only take a second or two to remove for someone that is trained to use them.  Make sure that your team is properly trained to remove the devices as quickly as possible, so your customers don’t have to wait for someone trying to figure out how to remove something from their purchase at the register.

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In order to help stop shoplifting in your store, you should know who you are dealing with and why they are stealing from you.  Although there are several different types of shoplifters, I’ll try to narrow it down to two main categories.  Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate which group a shoplifter should be placed, but I’ll make it easy and group them as either amateur or professional.  The main difference is that an amateur shoplifter usually steals for personal use, while a professional shoplifter typically steals to sell the merchandise after the theft.

The amateur and opportunist are your typical everyday shoplifters.  They are usually stealing items for themselves.  Some you could classify as opportunists, because they don’t always come into the store planning to steal, but while they are shopping, an opportunity presents itself and they take full advantage.  An example of this could be a lack of employees in an area, or even a showcase left unlocked.  Many shoplifters in this group will be deterred by anti-shoplifting devices placed on merchandise.  Just because this group is categorized as amateurs, doesn’t mean that they won’t cause a good amount of loss.

The booster or professional is a whole different species of shoplifter.  They come into the store well prepared, and typically know what they are after before coming into the store.  They sometimes have an actual list of what they need to take, which is provide to them by a fence, which is basically a person or location that will buy the stolen product.  In my experience, the majority of shoplifters that fall into this category are either involved in highly organized retail crime (ORC) or they are drug users stealing to support their habit.  With the internet, it is also much easier to sell stolen merchandise than it was in the past.  They don’t need to find a third party to sell the stuff they just took from the stores, all they need to do is just put it up for sale themselves online.

Boosters usually steal high dollar products, or large quantities of smaller items.  It’s not every day that you see someone come in and select 5 of the same electric toothbrush or grab a $600 television within a few seconds. These are the kinds of things you need to be able to recognize when looking for shoplifters.  Most of the time, they work very fast because they want to limit exposure.  Though they are not always this quick, I have personal witnessed some professional shoplifters in and out of a store in less than a minute.  Timing depends on where the product is located, and whether or not there are other customers or employees in the area.  Some shoplifters are so determined that they don’t even stop shoplifting when other customers walk into the aisle.  

Both of these groups can cause you to lose out on major profits.  Whether you are dealing with professional or amateur shoplifters in your store, a good way to slow them down is to attach anti-shoplifting devices to the merchandise.  Even if this doesn’t stop them from stealing the item, trying to remove the device will attract attention, and give you a chance to catch them in the act.  

For more information contact us: (stop shoplifting) or call 1.770.426.0547

It is important to stay on top of the latest technologies in shoplifting prevention.  Why? Because that’s exactly what the shoplifters are doing.  Not all shoplifters are opportunists.  There are probably a few shoplifters sitting around right now, contemplating how they are going to steal something from your store.  They are learning what stands in their way of getting what they want, and dreaming up ways to get around it.  This is why you need to stay ahead of the game and use the most up to date products to prevent shoplifting, by using products that the thieves have yet to figure out how to defeat.  

One technique shoplifters use is to work in groups, usually consisting of two to three people, but could be many more.  Sometimes one of them will go into an aisle and begin selecting merchandise from the shelves, while another person stands at the end of the aisle or circles around to ensure they are not attracting any unwanted attention.  This “lookout”, also stands guard as the other shoplifter attempts to remove retail anti-theft devices, and signals the primary thief when an employee is in the area.  One good example of an anti-theft tool is the Spider Wrap from Alpha Security. This product is great for covering boxed items, and yes, it kind of resembles a spider.  There are cables that cover every side of the box and it clips closed.  When a shoplifter attempts to cut the cables to remove it from an item, a loud alarm sounds, which makes it very difficult to discreetly steal the merchandise.

I recall an occasion early in my career when I was in uniform at a big box retailer, checking receipts at the door.  A man walked up to me and stood in front of me asking if we were hiring for security at the store.  He then started asking me random questions, and he appeared to be very nervous.  I knew something wasn’t right, and then he gave it away when he looked back over his shoulder.  He made eye contact with another man standing behind a clothing rack with a cart full of expensive merchandise from the electronics department.  

I immediately started walking toward the other man with the cart, and they both took off running.  When I looked in the cart, I noticed that all of the anti-theft devices were still attached to the products.  The seemingly friendly guy that was talking to me was really trying to distract me while his buddy made it out the door with the cart full of merchandise.  Luckily, I figured out what was going on before it was too late, and I was able to recover everything from the cart. This was one of the many lessons I have learned in my career.  

Shoplifters are sneaky, and if you want to prevent shoplifting in your store, you have to always be on the lookout for new ways to keep your merchandise in the building.  There are always new retail anti-theft devices being developed for all types of merchandise.  These will help deter some thieves from even attempting to steal the items you are using the devices to protect.  It will also make it very hard to steal them if they do attempt the theft.  Removing a

For more information contact us: (Prevent Shoplifting) or call 1.770.426.0547