Free Loss Prevention Calculator-5 WC blog 299
Loss Prevention Calculator-4
Can Loss Prevention Be Free?-3
Free Offers Don’t Always Turn Out To Be Free; The Free Loss Prevention Calculator Is And Will Show You How A Loss Prevention System Can Pay For Itself
Do you find that you get skeptical, as I do, when you get bombarded with offers for “Free” stuff? My wife and I once got a dog from an ad that said, “Puppy, free to good home”. Once we got to the residence to look at the puppy, we found out there was a catch the puppy was sick and on some very expensive medications. We didn’t have the money for this “free” puppy. I once saw an advertisement for a free check of my credit score, but when I got to the website I found I was going to have to put in a credit card number. It wasn’t going to bill me for the first month but it would if I didn’t cancel after the promo period, so it needed my credit card. That didn’t seem free any longer and I passed on the offer. As a retail owner or manager you are keenly aware of the costs associated with operating your business and one of those costs is shortage. Every time you lose something to theft your profit line takes a hit. Then you consider purchasing an electronic article surveillance (EAS) system but you don’t think you have the money for it. What is the bigger cost to you, losing products to theft or expenditures for Loss Prevention? Now what if I were to mention to you that there is a free offer for you with nothing to buy, no credit card information to enter, no hidden costs to think about? There is such an offer it is the Free Loss Prevention calculator.
Now I know you are thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard of graphing calculators, business calculators and desktop calculators but what is a Free Loss Prevention Calculator?” The Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool that can be used by a retail store owner to determine how long it would take for a Checkpoint System to pay for itself. Now you are asking the inevitable follow-up question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” To which my answer is an emphatic, YES it can be FREE! The calculator allows a user to input estimated annual sales information, it has a built in estimated merchandise shrinkage amount of 1.2% and estimates a Checkpoint System can reduce a store’s shortage to .65%. The final entry allows the user to input how much money they would be willing to invest in an EAS system. As the final field is filled in the Loss Prevention Calculator calculates how much a system would cost per month AND how many months it would take for the system to pay for itself in shortage reduction.
Can Loss Prevention Be Free? It can be when you consider how much you lose every single day to shoplifting. One of the things we like to do in Loss Prevention is to demonstrate how shortage is not a once a year number to be analyzed and forgotten about after inventory takes place. We take total inventory shortage losses and break them down to how much goes missing every day. When a manager realizes that shortage is a daily occurrence there is a new urgency to address it. The Free Loss Prevention Calculator shows that the installation of a Loss Prevention System can cut that amount by nearly half and it is not out of the question it could be more than that. That savings in shrink over a number of months pays for the amount that is invested in the system. After it is paid for, the system then adds profit to the store with the continued impact on theft reduction.
There’s always a catch right? I mentioned my encounters with feeling like there was “hook” to free offers, so there must be one with the Free Loss Prevention Calculator. You’re sure someone is going to call after you use the tool trying to “sell” you something. You couldn’t be more wrong! The Loss Prevention Calculator can be used over and over again with different numbers to see what the best outcome would be for your budget. You can print a PDF document of the results and if you decide that the time is right for you to inquire further or actually invest in a Loss Prevention system, you initiate the contact.
Can Loss Prevention be free? Yes it can by paying for itself over time. Is the Free Loss Prevention Calculator free? It is as well, requiring no registration, email or credit card to use it. What do you have to lose by checking it out? Nothing!
Need information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Do you find that you get skeptical, as I do, when you get bombarded with offers for “Free” stuff? My wife and I once got a dog from an ad that said, “Puppy, free to good home”. Once we got to the residence to look at the puppy, we found out there was a catch the puppy was sick and on some very expensive medications. We didn’t have the money for this “free” puppy. I once saw an advertisement for a free check of my credit score, but when I got to the website I found I was going to have to put in a credit card number. It wasn’t going to bill me for the first month but it would if I didn’t cancel after the promo period, so it needed my credit card. That didn’t seem free any longer and I passed on the offer. As a retail owner or manager you are keenly aware of the costs associated with operating your business and one of those costs is shortage. Every time you lose something to theft your profit line takes a hit. Then you consider purchasing an electronic article surveillance (EAS) system but you don’t think you have the money for it. What is the bigger cost to you, losing products to theft or expenditures for Loss Prevention? Now what if I were to mention to you that there is a free offer for you with nothing to buy, no credit card information to enter, no hidden costs to think about? There is such an offer it is the Free Loss Prevention calculator.
Now I know you are thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard of graphing calculators, business calculators and desktop calculators but what is a Free Loss Prevention Calculator?” The Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool that can be used by a retail store owner to determine how long it would take for a Checkpoint System to pay for itself. Now you are asking the inevitable follow-up question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” To which my answer is an emphatic, YES it can be FREE! The calculator allows a user to input estimated annual sales information, it has a built in estimated merchandise shrinkage amount of 1.2% and estimates a Checkpoint System can reduce a store’s shortage to .65%. The final entry allows the user to input how much money they would be willing to invest in an EAS system. As the final field is filled in the Loss Prevention Calculator calculates how much a system would cost per month AND how many months it would take for the system to pay for itself in shortage reduction.
Can Loss Prevention Be Free? It can be when you consider how much you lose every single day to shoplifting. One of the things we like to do in Loss Prevention is to demonstrate how shortage is not a once a year number to be analyzed and forgotten about after inventory takes place. We take total inventory shortage losses and break them down to how much goes missing every day. When a manager realizes that shortage is a daily occurrence there is a new urgency to address it. The Free Loss Prevention Calculator shows that the installation of a Loss Prevention System can cut that amount by nearly half and it is not out of the question it could be more than that. That savings in shrink over a number of months pays for the amount that is invested in the system. After it is paid for, the system then adds profit to the store with the continued impact on theft reduction.
There’s always a catch right? I mentioned my encounters with feeling like there was “hook” to free offers, so there must be one with the Free Loss Prevention Calculator. You’re sure someone is going to call after you use the tool trying to “sell” you something. You couldn’t be more wrong! The Loss Prevention Calculator can be used over and over again with different numbers to see what the best outcome would be for your budget. You can print a PDF document of the results and if you decide that the time is right for you to inquire further or actually invest in a Loss Prevention system, you initiate the contact.
Can Loss Prevention be free? Yes it can by paying for itself over time. Is the Free Loss Prevention Calculator free? It is as well, requiring no registration, email or credit card to use it. What do you have to lose by checking it out? Nothing!
Need information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Do you find that you get skeptical, as I do, when you get bombarded with offers for “Free” stuff? My wife and I once got a dog from an ad that said, “Puppy, free to good home”. Once we got to the residence to look at the puppy, we found out there was a catch the puppy was sick and on some very expensive medications. We didn’t have the money for this “free” puppy. I once saw an advertisement for a free check of my credit score, but when I got to the website I found I was going to have to put in a credit card number. It wasn’t going to bill me for the first month but it would if I didn’t cancel after the promo period, so it needed my credit card. That didn’t seem free any longer and I passed on the offer. As a retail owner or manager you are keenly aware of the costs associated with operating your business and one of those costs is shortage. Every time you lose something to theft your profit line takes a hit. Then you consider purchasing an electronic article surveillance (EAS) system but you don’t think you have the money for it. What is the bigger cost to you, losing products to theft or expenditures for Loss Prevention? Now what if I were to mention to you that there is a free offer for you with nothing to buy, no credit card information to enter, no hidden costs to think about? There is such an offer it is the Free Loss Prevention calculator.
Now I know you are thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard of graphing calculators, business calculators and desktop calculators but what is a Free Loss Prevention Calculator?” The Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool that can be used by a retail store owner to determine how long it would take for a Checkpoint System to pay for itself. Now you are asking the inevitable follow-up question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” To which my answer is an emphatic, YES it can be FREE! The calculator allows a user to input estimated annual sales information, it has a built in estimated merchandise shrinkage amount of 1.2% and estimates a Checkpoint System can reduce a store’s shortage to .65%. The final entry allows the user to input how much money they would be willing to invest in an EAS system. As the final field is filled in the Loss Prevention Calculator calculates how much a system would cost per month AND how many months it would take for the system to pay for itself in shortage reduction.
Can Loss Prevention Be Free? It can be when you consider how much you lose every single day to shoplifting. One of the things we like to do in Loss Prevention is to demonstrate how shortage is not a once a year number to be analyzed and forgotten about after inventory takes place. We take total inventory shortage losses and break them down to how much goes missing every day. When a manager realizes that shortage is a daily occurrence there is a new urgency to address it. The Free Loss Prevention Calculator shows that the installation of a Loss Prevention System can cut that amount by nearly half and it is not out of the question it could be more than that. That savings in shrink over a number of months pays for the amount that is invested in the system. After it is paid for, the system then adds profit to the store with the continued impact on theft reduction.
There’s always a catch right? I mentioned my encounters with feeling like there was “hook” to free offers, so there must be one with the Free Loss Prevention Calculator. You’re sure someone is going to call after you use the tool trying to “sell” you something. You couldn’t be more wrong! The Loss Prevention Calculator can be used over and over again with different numbers to see what the best outcome would be for your budget. You can print a PDF document of the results and if you decide that the time is right for you to inquire further or actually invest in a Loss Prevention system, you initiate the contact.
Can Loss Prevention be free? Yes it can by paying for itself over time. Is the Free Loss Prevention Calculator free? It is as well, requiring no registration, email or credit card to use it. What do you have to lose by checking it out? Nothing!
Need information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Checkpoint Tags- 4 WC Blog 342
Clothing Security Tags-5
Clothing Security Tags Can Help Or Hinder Customer Service; Tips To Ensure You Are Keeping Customers Happy – Part 1
Browsing the internet there are any number of articles on clothing security tags. Some sites purport to tell the readers how to remove tags themselves and some discuss how tags work. Others are customers who have become frustrated at getting merchandise home after traveling some distance from the store only to find the tags left on the clothing. I give little credence to the first two types of articles; one because they are often written by thieves, petty crooks or wannabe’s who just wants attention. Those discussing how tags work may or may not know what they are talking about, but if I want the real scoop on Checkpoint Tags I’ll go to the source, Checkpoint Systems. As for customer service issues I’ve had to handle those situations and I have sympathy for those customers. As a Loss Prevention Manager and a Manager on Duty, I have seen the frustration those patrons have experienced when a tag was not removed or detuned properly.
For readers who are not familiar with Checkpoint Tags a discussion of what they are is in order. Clothing security tags can be soft electronic article surveillance (EAS) sensitive tags that can be applied to manufacturer hang tags or in some cases stuck inside a pocket of a dress, slacks, purse, etc. Hard tags are two piece designs that are pinned to an article of clothing and even softlines accessories such as purses or shoes. The tags are designed to set off alarm towers at the front doors when a tagged piece of clothing or any item for that matter, is carried too close to the door. When the alarm activates a trained employee responds to the door, asks for a receipt and determines if something was not paid for or if clothing security tags were not removed. If it is a matter of a tag not deactivating properly or not being removed that can be resolved quickly. If the merchandise was not paid for, the customer can be offered a choice of returning the item or purchasing it.
In most cases alarm activations at the towers are the result of unpaid merchandise that is being carried out of the store, more often than not due to a shoplifting attempt. I will caution that this is not always the situation. There are times when merchandise is accidently overlooked in a shopping cart by the customer and the cashier. The customer pays for the items that are bagged and when they get to the doors the alarm sounds and an inspection of the receipt reveals a small item, perhaps a scarf or pair of gloves with Checkpoint tags on them was overlooked under the child seat portion of the shopping cart. It happens more than you might think. While these issues are inconvenient to the customer, if properly handled the customer can still leave with an overall positive customer service experience.
What will frustrate and anger your customers is what I mentioned in my introduction, patrons getting home after shopping and finding they can’t wear a garment they bought because the clothing security tags have been left on them. How can this happen if the tags are supposed to cause the pedestals to alarm when the customer starts to walk out with tagged clothing? It happens in stages and in part 2 of this article we will look at what happens (or doesn’t happen) that affect the customer shopping experience and can hurt your sales in the long term.
Loss Prevention strategies to reduce theft and fraud are critical to running a profitable business. Checkpoint Tags are a proven tool to significantly cut down clothing shortage, keep prices low and customers happy when used properly. Find out how clothing security tags can benefit your store(s).
Checkpoint Tags are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Browsing the internet there are any number of articles on clothing security tags. Some sites purport to tell the readers how to remove tags themselves and some discuss how tags work. Others are customers who have become frustrated at getting merchandise home after traveling some distance from the store only to find the tags left on the clothing. I give little credence to the first two types of articles; one because they are often written by thieves, petty crooks or wannabe’s who just wants attention. Those discussing how tags work may or may not know what they are talking about, but if I want the real scoop on Checkpoint Tags I’ll go to the source, Checkpoint Systems. As for customer service issues I’ve had to handle those situations and I have sympathy for those customers. As a Loss Prevention Manager and a Manager on Duty, I have seen the frustration those patrons have experienced when a tag was not removed or detuned properly.
For readers who are not familiar with Checkpoint Tags a discussion of what they are is in order. Clothing security tags can be soft electronic article surveillance (EAS) sensitive tags that can be applied to manufacturer hang tags or in some cases stuck inside a pocket of a dress, slacks, purse, etc. Hard tags are two piece designs that are pinned to an article of clothing and even softlines accessories such as purses or shoes. The tags are designed to set off alarm towers at the front doors when a tagged piece of clothing or any item for that matter, is carried too close to the door. When the alarm activates a trained employee responds to the door, asks for a receipt and determines if something was not paid for or if clothing security tags were not removed. If it is a matter of a tag not deactivating properly or not being removed that can be resolved quickly. If the merchandise was not paid for, the customer can be offered a choice of returning the item or purchasing it.
In most cases alarm activations at the towers are the result of unpaid merchandise that is being carried out of the store, more often than not due to a shoplifting attempt. I will caution that this is not always the situation. There are times when merchandise is accidently overlooked in a shopping cart by the customer and the cashier. The customer pays for the items that are bagged and when they get to the doors the alarm sounds and an inspection of the receipt reveals a small item, perhaps a scarf or pair of gloves with Checkpoint tags on them was overlooked under the child seat portion of the shopping cart. It happens more than you might think. While these issues are inconvenient to the customer, if properly handled the customer can still leave with an overall positive customer service experience.
What will frustrate and anger your customers is what I mentioned in my introduction, patrons getting home after shopping and finding they can’t wear a garment they bought because the clothing security tags have been left on them. How can this happen if the tags are supposed to cause the pedestals to alarm when the customer starts to walk out with tagged clothing? It happens in stages and in part 2 of this article we will look at what happens (or doesn’t happen) that affect the customer shopping experience and can hurt your sales in the long term.
Loss Prevention strategies to reduce theft and fraud are critical to running a profitable business. Checkpoint Tags are a proven tool to significantly cut down clothing shortage, keep prices low and customers happy when used properly. Find out how clothing security tags can benefit your store(s).
Checkpoint Tags are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
CLOTHING SECURITY TIPS AND TRICKS – PT-2
Clothing Security takes more than snap of a hard-tag, as covered in part 1 of my tips and tricks. Some careful thought and planning should go into your EAS strategy and how you execute that strategy in your store. I thought about the challenges I’ve faced over the past several years and I hope these next few tricks will help you to prevent shrink and ultimately make your store more profitable.
When to use an ink tag?
Checkpoint Tags come in varying styles and like I said before, one tag may not necessarily give you the results you want across your product line. You have to tinker with different strategies and different tags, until you find the right combination that gives you the best result. The most effective tag that I’ve ever used is the ink tags. You can use this on almost any article of clothing, and I’ve even used them on footwear in the past with success. These should be the “tag of last resort” when all else seem to fail.
When to use a soft tag?
Soft tags should always have a place in your Clothing Security tool kit, though they are often overlooked and labeled as “in-effective”. Well, I can tell you they are the furthest from that! From time to time, you’ll encounter product that you simply can’t use a hard tag on. When using a soft tag, placement in key! Always place your soft tag on the manufacturers tag either on the inside seam, or the seam at the neck. This ensures a good, permeants stick. Couple that with the come cool features, like tamper proof labels and the ability to print UPC’s on them, you’ve got a solid winner.
When to use a hard tag?
Checkpoint Tags, specifically hard tags, are the perfect fit for clothing. You should use hard tags on any garment that has the potential for theft (which is usually just about everything over $20). Normally, it’s not cost-effective to tag products less than that price-point, since you’re not only paying for the tag, but the labor associated with physically tagging the item. You can use hard tags on shirts, shorts, accessories, jeans, underwear, socks, and virtually any other wearable item. These Checkpoint Tags are, essentially, your rank and file tags. Good, all-around tags that can be used on a variety of items and provide a high level of security.
When to use a combination of tags?
I don’t necessarily want to recommend putting 5-6 different styles of tags on our article of clothing, but a in order to have an all-encompassing Clothing Security plan, sometimes you do have to use more than one. I would recommend, if using two tags, to use one style of hard tag and a soft tag. So when should you use this double-tagging method? I’ve used them on denim jeans and as well on higher end jackets and outerwear. This gives you an added level of security, by allowing you to conceal a soft tag somewhere in the garment, in addition to the visible deterrent of the hard tag on the outside of the garment.
What about shoes?
Shoes are clothes, right? You wear them, so I’m going to go ahead and say yes, yes they are. There are dozens of ways to secure shoes, but for me, the most effective manner to do so is by using an ink tag through the tongue of the shoe. I’ve seen shrink drop to virtually zero by using this method. While there are certainly “cheaper” options in securing the shoe, this method has always guaranteed me an almost 99% effective rate.
Need information on Clothing Security? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Clothing Security takes more than snap of a hard-tag, as covered in part 1 of my tips and tricks. Some careful thought and planning should go into your EAS strategy and how you execute that strategy in your store. I thought about the challenges I’ve faced over the past several years and I hope these next few tricks will help you to prevent shrink and ultimately make your store more profitable.
When to use an ink tag?
Checkpoint Tags come in varying styles and like I said before, one tag may not necessarily give you the results you want across your product line. You have to tinker with different strategies and different tags, until you find the right combination that gives you the best result. The most effective tag that I’ve ever used is the ink tags. You can use this on almost any article of clothing, and I’ve even used them on footwear in the past with success. These should be the “tag of last resort” when all else seem to fail.
When to use a soft tag?
Soft tags should always have a place in your Clothing Security tool kit, though they are often overlooked and labeled as “in-effective”. Well, I can tell you they are the furthest from that! From time to time, you’ll encounter product that you simply can’t use a hard tag on. When using a soft tag, placement in key! Always place your soft tag on the manufacturers tag either on the inside seam, or the seam at the neck. This ensures a good, permeants stick. Couple that with the come cool features, like tamper proof labels and the ability to print UPC’s on them, you’ve got a solid winner.
When to use a hard tag?
Checkpoint Tags, specifically hard tags, are the perfect fit for clothing. You should use hard tags on any garment that has the potential for theft (which is usually just about everything over $20). Normally, it’s not cost-effective to tag products less than that price-point, since you’re not only paying for the tag, but the labor associated with physically tagging the item. You can use hard tags on shirts, shorts, accessories, jeans, underwear, socks, and virtually any other wearable item. These Checkpoint Tags are, essentially, your rank and file tags. Good, all-around tags that can be used on a variety of items and provide a high level of security.
When to use a combination of tags?
I don’t necessarily want to recommend putting 5-6 different styles of tags on our article of clothing, but a in order to have an all-encompassing Clothing Security plan, sometimes you do have to use more than one. I would recommend, if using two tags, to use one style of hard tag and a soft tag. So when should you use this double-tagging method? I’ve used them on denim jeans and as well on higher end jackets and outerwear. This gives you an added level of security, by allowing you to conceal a soft tag somewhere in the garment, in addition to the visible deterrent of the hard tag on the outside of the garment.
What about shoes?
Shoes are clothes, right? You wear them, so I’m going to go ahead and say yes, yes they are. There are dozens of ways to secure shoes, but for me, the most effective manner to do so is by using an ink tag through the tongue of the shoe. I’ve seen shrink drop to virtually zero by using this method. While there are certainly “cheaper” options in securing the shoe, this method has always guaranteed me an almost 99% effective rate.
Need information on Clothing Security? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Stop shoplifting-4 WC blog 288
Electronic Article Surveillance-4
Checkpoint Security Tags-5
EAS labels-5
Using Checkpoint Security Tags Helps Stop Shoplifting And Prevent Theft On Inventory Night (And Other Tips For A Successful Inventory)
It seems like only a few months ago when I was helping out with inventory at the store I currently work for! Having nearly 26 years of retail and inventory experience to draw from, I frequently help identify potential problem areas and provide suggestions to my current store manager to try to make the inventory process easier and more accurate. Right now I work for an office supply store but I have experience in department stores and big box retail stores as well. There are tips and strategies I have incorporated over the years that can be useful in preparing for inventory in almost any situation. For example, all stores I have worked for have used Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tags or EAS labels to stop shoplifting. Prep time is the time to ensure all merchandise has the appropriate Checkpoint security tags on them whether it is clothing, electronics, toys or a combination of those products your store sells. Using the time leading up to inventory to apply EAS labels and Checkpoint security tags not only helps to stop shoplifting later on, it helps to prevent theft by inventory counters or your own staff on inventory night.
I tend to forget that not all of the readers are familiar with electronic article surveillance or how Checkpoint security tags or EAS labels work or stop shoplifting. Let me give a brief explanation. Electronic article surveillance uses radio frequency emitting tags and radio frequency receiver antennas to create an alarm system. When an EAS label (usually a soft-style tag) or Checkpoint security tag (which can be a hard tag or soft label) is carried into the receiving range of an electronic article surveillance antenna, an alarm in the antenna is activated. Usually this is a loud, audible alarm accompanied by flashing LED lights. The alarm alerts employees and they can respond and conduct receipt checks and recover unpaid merchandise. Often simply having the EAS labels on merchandise is enough to deter a thief from stealing but when it isn’t, the antenna alarm and employee response does result in preventing merchandise from being stolen.
Here are some other things to watch for that can make your inventory process easier or more accurate. Again, these are lessons I have learned over the many years I have in preparing stores for inventory:
• When prepping in a stockroom, watch out for items that may be multiple items in a package. An example would be socks. Some socks are sold as multiple pairs in a package, perhaps a package of 10 socks for $14. Other packages are shipped with multiple socks that are intended to be separated as individual units. Not catching this can result in counting a package of 10 socks intended to be sold individually as 1 unit. The store “loses” 9 pair of socks. Make sure packages are properly marked by how many units are in them OR separate out the package.
• Boxes of batteries may be shipped to a store and although a box may contain 20 individual packages, I have seen the shipping box counted as 1 unit. Had I not caught the error, due to poor prep or an inventory counter error, we would have “lost” 19 packages of batteries.
• Look for merchandise that gets stocked on the floor in a manner that can confuse an inventory counter. An example of this we have to watch for at an office supply store is 3-ring binders. They are often stocked so that two are inserted into each other to allow more merchandise to be on the floor. The issue at inventory time is it can look like one selling unit. Be sure to show this to your inventory representative during a pre-inventory walk-through so they can make a note of it for their plans. On inventory night audit this area well.
• Train employees to look for and report mis-ticketed items shipped to the store from a warehouse. In one store I worked for we called these mis-picks. This should be a year round practice that can significantly hurt inventory. Recently I found a chair shipped to the store with the wrong SKU number. This threw off our counts and impacted replenishment and would have impacted inventory had I not noticed the error and reported it so management could correct the counts.
These are just a few tips that can make a BIG impact on inventory. Stop shoplifting and operational shortage and see how profitable your store can be!
Get more information on Checkpoint Security Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
It seems like only a few months ago when I was helping out with inventory at the store I currently work for! Having nearly 26 years of retail and inventory experience to draw from, I frequently help identify potential problem areas and provide suggestions to my current store manager to try to make the inventory process easier and more accurate. Right now I work for an office supply store but I have experience in department stores and big box retail stores as well. There are tips and strategies I have incorporated over the years that can be useful in preparing for inventory in almost any situation. For example, all stores I have worked for have used Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tags or EAS labels to stop shoplifting. Prep time is the time to ensure all merchandise has the appropriate Checkpoint security tags on them whether it is clothing, electronics, toys or a combination of those products your store sells. Using the time leading up to inventory to apply EAS labels and Checkpoint security tags not only helps to stop shoplifting later on, it helps to prevent theft by inventory counters or your own staff on inventory night.
I tend to forget that not all of the readers are familiar with electronic article surveillance or how Checkpoint security tags or EAS labels work or stop shoplifting. Let me give a brief explanation. Electronic article surveillance uses radio frequency emitting tags and radio frequency receiver antennas to create an alarm system. When an EAS label (usually a soft-style tag) or Checkpoint security tags (which can be a hard tag or soft label) is carried into the receiving range of an electronic article surveillance antenna, an alarm in the antenna is activated. Usually this is a loud, audible alarm accompanied by flashing LED lights. The alarm alerts employees and they can respond and conduct receipt checks and recover unpaid merchandise. Often simply having the EAS labels on merchandise is enough to deter a thief from stealing but when it isn’t, the antenna alarm and employee response does result in preventing merchandise from being stolen.
Here are some other things to watch for that can make your inventory process easier or more accurate. Again, these are lessons I have learned over the many years I have in preparing stores for inventory:
• When prepping in a stockroom, watch out for items that may be multiple items in a package. An example would be socks. Some socks are sold as multiple pairs in a package, perhaps a package of 10 socks for $14. Other packages are shipped with multiple socks that are intended to be separated as individual units. Not catching this can result in counting a package of 10 socks intended to be sold individually as 1 unit. The store “loses” 9 pair of socks. Make sure packages are properly marked by how many units are in them OR separate out the package.
• Boxes of batteries may be shipped to a store and although a box may contain 20 individual packages, I have seen the shipping box counted as 1 unit. Had I not caught the error, due to poor prep or an inventory counter error, we would have “lost” 19 packages of batteries.
• Look for merchandise that gets stocked on the floor in a manner that can confuse an inventory counter. An example of this we have to watch for at an office supply store is 3-ring binders. They are often stocked so that two are inserted into each other to allow more merchandise to be on the floor. The issue at inventory time is it can look like one selling unit. Be sure to show this to your inventory representative during a pre-inventory walk-through so they can make a note of it for their plans. On inventory night audit this area well.
• Train employees to look for and report mis-ticketed items shipped to the store from a warehouse. In one store I worked for we called these mis-picks. This should be a year round practice that can significantly hurt inventory. Recently I found a chair shipped to the store with the wrong SKU number. This threw off our counts and impacted replenishment and would have impacted inventory had I not noticed the error and reported it so management could correct the counts.
These are just a few tips that can make a BIG impact on inventory. Stop shoplifting and operational shortage and see how profitable your store can be!
Get more information on Checkpoint Security Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
KNOW YOUR PEAK HOURS WITH A VISIPLUS CUSTOMER COUNTING SYSTEM
Are you staffing at the appropriate times of the day?
Well, that’s hard to know for sure, unless you’re taking advantage of the data provided by a VisiPlus customer counting system. Historically, managers utilize their sales data to determine the “busiest” times of the day. What if the times that your registers are the busiest aren’t actually the busiest times of the day on your sales floor?
Are you staffing for peak times, or are peak times dictating your staffing?
If you rely on your sales data to tell you that between the hours of 11am -2pm, you’ll schedule your staff to be present during these times to assist in the customer flow. What if, however, by doing this without reviewing any additional data, you’re forcing this time to be your busiest? Without a people counting system, you may never see the entire picture.
The problem
Let’s assume that you schedule heavy between 11-2 every day, as this is what your sales tell you is your peak time. Without any additional data at your fingertips, it only makes sense. Now, what if this has become your peak time because you are scheduled so heavy during this time? What if, during another block of time during the day, you actually have more customers in the store, but since you don’t have the heavy staff presence, you walk sales since your customers aren’t being serviced?
Real Life Example
This is exactly what we discovered when we installed a people counting system. I used the 11a-2p example above because that was my data. For years, as a manager, I made sure I had the most staff on the floor during this time. After installing the VisiPlus customer counting system, we found that we had on average, 10%-15% more customers in the store between 4pm-7pm than we did between 11a-2p.
Reacting to the numbers
With this new information from our VisiPlus Customer Counting System, we began to schedule more sales team members on the floor between 4pm-7pm. After some trial and error, we finally got the staffing to reflect the foot traffic and the results were, no surprise, a new “peak time” for our store. We saw a moderate increase in sales and we contribute this to higher levels of customer service from our team when there are physically more customers in the store. The more customer interactions our sales team have, the higher the chance to make a sale.
Impact on shrink
While we often focus on physical solutions to shoplifting loss, often overlooked (and universally the most important) way to decrease shrink is to increase sales. By relying on the data provided by a people counting system, we were able to add sales to our bottom line. This not only added to our profitability, it decreased our shrink as a percentage to sales.
While there are numerous ways to improve store performance and effect sales targets in addition to minimizing shrink, you shouldn’t overlook how important an accurate customer count, by hour, can be to your business. By having the ability to pull this data and review it daily, you can make better decisions regarding staffing, payroll and ultimately your shrink reduction strategies.
Get more information on VisiPlus People Counting System, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Are you staffing at the appropriate times of the day?
Well, that’s hard to know for sure, unless you’re taking advantage of the data provided by customer counting systems. Historically, managers utilize their sales data to determine the “busiest” times of the day. What if the times that your registers are the busiest aren’t actually the busiest times of the day on your sales floor?
Are you staffing for peak times, or are peak times dictating your staffing?
If you rely on your sales data to tell you that between the hours of 11am -2pm, you’ll schedule your staff to be present during these times to assist in the customer flow. What if, however, by doing this without reviewing any additional data, you’re forcing this time to be your busiest? Without people counting systems, you may never see the entire picture.
The problem
Let’s assume that you schedule heavy between 11-2 every day, as this is what your sales tell you is your peak time. Without any additional data at your fingertips, it only makes sense. Now, what if this has become your peak time because you are scheduled so heavy during this time? What if, during another block of time during the day, you actually have more customers in the store, but since you don’t have the heavy staff presence, you walk sales since your customers aren’t being serviced?
Real Life Example
This is exactly what we discovered when we installed people counting systems. I used the 11a-2p example above because that was my data. For years, as a manager, I made sure I had the most staff on the floor during this time. After installing customer counting systems, we found that we had on average, 10%-15% more customers in the store between 4pm-7pm than we did between 11a-2p.
Reacting to the numbers
With this new information from our Customer Counting Systems, we began to schedule more sales team members on the floor between 4pm-7pm. After some trial and error, we finally got the staffing to reflect the foot traffic and the results were, no surprise, a new “peak time” for our store. We saw a moderate increase in sales and we contribute this to higher levels of customer service from our team when there are physically more customers in the store. The more customer interactions our sales team have, the higher the chance to make a sale.
Impact on shrink
While we often focus on physical solutions to shoplifting loss, often overlooked (and universally the most important) way to decrease shrink is to increase sales. By relying on the data provided by people counting systems, we were able to add sales to our bottom line. This not only added to our profitability, it decreased our shrink as a percentage to sales. While there are numerous ways to improve store performance and effect sales targets in addition to minimizing shrink, you shouldn’t overlook how important an accurate customer count, by hour, can be to your business. By having the ability to pull this data and review it daily, you can make better decisions regarding staffing, payroll and ultimately your shrink reduction strategies.
Get more information on People Counting Systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
