Door counting sensor-4 wc blog 242
Retail traffic counting system-3
Get A Better Sense For When Your Customers Are Shopping; Invest In A Door Counting Sensor
It’s the middle of the afternoon; you have lines of people at your checkout counters and two cashiers to check them out. Isn’t it wonderful to see this kind of business in your store? Someone on the sales floor needs help but you can’t assist them just now, it’s too busy. Get the checkout lines down a little bit and THEN you can see what the customer wanted assistance with. The thought crosses your mind that you don’t recall ever seeing it this busy when it isn’t a holiday. Is that really true or is it just your perception at the moment? I suppose it doesn’t matter the store is hopping and there have to be a gazillion people in here shopping. When things calm down a bit, did you notice the shopping cart filled with merchandise pushed to the side? Did you question why there is so much stray merchandise just plopped down all over the place? Just signs of what a busy day you have had, right? How many people were in your store for that rush? Does it matter? A door counting sensor would have been a great tool to answer that question, but you haven’t invested in one. A retail traffic counting system can give you data that can help you staff the store to better serve your customers.
A door counting sensor keeps track of the number of visitors entering your store. It can help establish the days your store is busiest and it breaks that information down to customer traffic by the hour. A retail traffic counting system provides a store owner or management team with information that can help in creating more effective schedules for a business. As historical data is gathered, you will be able to compare apples to apples in other words a Monday afternoon on a labor day may require more scheduled workers than a Monday afternoon in February. Making informed decisions about how many people you should staff your store with and at what times makes your business more efficient and profitable.
One of the old maxims in retail is, “Time enough to lean, time enough to clean.” I’ve heard this said in a number of different stores and the idea is that when it is slow and your associates have nothing else to do, they can find things to stay busy like dusting, wiping counters, sweeping etc. I would suggest to the business owner that if this is repeated frequently in your stores, it could indicate you have too many employees working at the wrong times. Using information collected from a door counting sensor, a business manager could validate peak shopping hour trends and staff the store according to those indicators. A regular Sunday afternoon peak rush from 3pm-6pm may mean that for those 3 hours, Sundays are scheduled heavier on cashiers so there are no lengthy lines. How does this impact the bottom line? Those shopping carts filled with merchandise that I mentioned in the beginning of the article would not exist. The patron frustrated by the long line that you were so pleased with, who abandoned that purchase due to the wait time would now complete the purchase. The extra cashier would have made the difference between losing that sale and profiting from it.
How about that stray merchandise stacked up around the check lanes that you considered signals that you were having a great sales day? Many of those items may well be individual purchases that people gave up on rather than stand in a line for a single item purchase. How do I know? I have been one of those customers. I do get irritated when I have to stand too long for one or two items because a store is not staffed correctly. I have put down merchandise and left rather than spend my money. I have also seen it happen as an employee and at that point even the best customer service can’t recover that sale. Additionally, I have walked away from a potential purchase when I had to wait too long for service at a display case. If I do it, and I can be a little forgiving with my background in retail, how much more does the average customer walk away because of a lack of service? A retail counting system can help you boost sales by giving you the information you need to optimize store coverage on the floor and at checkout.
Don’t play a guessing game at properly staffing your store. Invest in a retail traffic counting system so you know when your business is busiest. Opportunity knocks, count on it with a door counting sensor!
Get more information on Door Counting Sensors, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
It’s the middle of the afternoon; you have lines of people at your checkout counters and two cashiers to check them out. Isn’t it wonderful to see this kind of business in your store? Someone on the sales floor needs help but you can’t assist them just now, it’s too busy. Get the checkout lines down a little bit and THEN you can see what the customer wanted assistance with. The thought crosses your mind that you don’t recall ever seeing it this busy when it isn’t a holiday. Is that really true or is it just your perception at the moment? I suppose it doesn’t matter the store is hopping and there have to be a gazillion people in here shopping. When things calm down a bit, did you notice the shopping cart filled with merchandise pushed to the side? Did you question why there is so much stray merchandise just plopped down all over the place? Just signs of what a busy day you have had, right? How many people were in your store for that rush? Does it matter? A door counting sensor would have been a great tool to answer that question, but you haven’t invested in one. A retail traffic counting system can give you data that can help you staff the store to better serve your customers.
A door counting sensor keeps track of the number of visitors entering your store. It can help establish the days your store is busiest and it breaks that information down to customer traffic by the hour. A retail traffic counting system provides a store owner or management team with information that can help in creating more effective schedules for a business. As historical data is gathered, you will be able to compare apples to apples in other words a Monday afternoon on a labor day may require more scheduled workers than a Monday afternoon in February. Making informed decisions about how many people you should staff your store with and at what times makes your business more efficient and profitable.
One of the old maxims in retail is, “Time enough to lean, time enough to clean.” I’ve heard this said in a number of different stores and the idea is that when it is slow and your associates have nothing else to do, they can find things to stay busy like dusting, wiping counters, sweeping etc. I would suggest to the business owner that if this is repeated frequently in your stores, it could indicate you have too many employees working at the wrong times. Using information collected from a door counting sensor, a business manager could validate peak shopping hour trends and staff the store according to those indicators. A regular Sunday afternoon peak rush from 3pm-6pm may mean that for those 3 hours, Sundays are scheduled heavier on cashiers so there are no lengthy lines. How does this impact the bottom line? Those shopping carts filled with merchandise that I mentioned in the beginning of the article would not exist. The patron frustrated by the long line that you were so pleased with, who abandoned that purchase due to the wait time would now complete the purchase. The extra cashier would have made the difference between losing that sale and profiting from it.
How about that stray merchandise stacked up around the check lanes that you considered signals that you were having a great sales day? Many of those items may well be individual purchases that people gave up on rather than stand in a line for a single item purchase. How do I know? I have been one of those customers. I do get irritated when I have to stand too long for one or two items because a store is not staffed correctly. I have put down merchandise and left rather than spend my money. I have also seen it happen as an employee and at that point even the best customer service can’t recover that sale. Additionally, I have walked away from a potential purchase when I had to wait too long for service at a display case. If I do it, and I can be a little forgiving with my background in retail, how much more does the average customer walk away because of a lack of service? A retail counting system can help you boost sales by giving you the information you need to optimize store coverage on the floor and at checkout.
Don’t play a guessing game at properly staffing your store. Invest in a retail traffic counting system so you know when your business is busiest. Opportunity knocks, count on it with a door counting sensor!
Get more information on Door Counting Sensors, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Pre-employment Screening-4 WC Blog 268
Background Check Company-5
Employee Background Checks-3
Do You Really Have Inventory Control If You Hire The Wrong People? A Background Check Company Ensures You Stay In Control
Over the last few weeks I have been writing about different aspects of what Inventory Control means and strategies for impacting it. Recently it dawned on me that there is a human element to Inventory Control I had not previously considered. While paperwork errors, process and handling errors, and even technical glitches can all factor into control of inventory, the “people” factor has more influence than any other. Think about it like this, people make keying errors into computers, people make mistakes, people sometimes make poor decisions and sometimes people steal. If you aren’t hiring the right people for your workplace you could be creating your own inventory control problems. In order to hire the right people it is best to conduct pre-employment screening through a reputable company.
A good hiring interview with structured questions is important in getting a feel for an applicant’s ability to do the job you are trying to fill. The problem with an interview is that some people do a great job of interviewing, while not necessarily being honest in all their answers to your questions. I have conducted interviews with candidates and the answers they provided to my questions sounded good at the time but once they were hired and began work I was not so sure they had not embellished some of their responses. A background check company can verify information that a candidate puts on an application before they are hired. If you have a job that requires accurate data entry skills and the prospective employee indicates they have worked for a business doing this type of work, a background check company can verify that. If you need someone to work with finances and budgeting and you have an applicant indicate they received a finance degree from a university, you may not be able to establish it is true. A pre-employment screening can validate that information and let you know the information provided is correct. Places of residence, social security number verifications, criminal history and driving records are also pieces of information that can be gathered when employee background checks are conducted.
Potential dishonest employee activity can be a significant issue when addressing inventory control problems. If workers are stealing merchandise then it is apparent you are not in control, at least in that instance. A background check company can conduct a criminal background check on the candidate you are considering before you finalize a decision on whether to bring that person on the team. Your interview questions and application may ask whether someone has a felony conviction but if they lie and you aren’t doing employee background checks it is unlikely you will find out about their criminal history. This is not an admonition against hiring someone with a prior conviction, I actually encourage giving opportunities to people who are making an effort to turn their lives around. I do believe it is acceptable to put them in positions that will not put a company or their clients at risk for theft and let them prove they are worthy of an employer’s trust. On the other hand, if they aren’t being honest on an application about their past then regardless of the reason for lying they have demonstrated credibility issues before they are even hired. Pre-employment screening removes the risk of hiring the wrong person who may hurt inventory control in the long term.
Another inventory control concern is the freight receiving process and vendor credit and chargeback handling. In most cases these jobs require someone who is attentive to detailed work. They must be able to identify paperwork errors when an invoice doesn’t match the product received. A digit in the wrong place can be costly if not caught. Does billing match what was received? Are vendors giving all the credits due to the store when they take merchandise out of the store? All of this requires a person who doesn’t mind challenging an error when they find it and ensuring it gets fixed. If you seek a person with experience in this field and they have indicated on their application they worked for a company doing this job, pre-employment screening can come in handy. The background check company can verify past employment, guaranteeing you are hiring the person you think you are hiring.
Employee background checks do have an impact on the inventory control in your store. A company I used to work for used to teach us, “Right Person, Right Place, Right Time”. Make sure you are getting the right person ALL the time by using a background check company.
Get more information on a background check company, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today
Over the last few weeks I have been writing about different aspects of what Inventory Control means and strategies for impacting it.Recently it dawned on me that there is a human element to Inventory Control I had not previously considered. While paperwork errors, process and handling errors, and even technical glitches can all factor into control of inventory, the “people” factor has more influence than any other. Think about it like this, people make keying errors into computers, people make mistakes, people sometimes make poor decisions and sometimes people steal. If you aren’t hiring the right people for your workplace you could be creating your own inventory control problems. In order to hire the right people it is best to conduct pre-employment screening through a reputable company.
A good hiring interview with structured questions is important in getting a feel for an applicant’s ability to do the job you are trying to fill. The problem with an interview is that some people do a great job of interviewing, while not necessarily being honest in all their answers to your questions. I have conducted interviews with candidates and the answers they provided to my questions sounded good at the time but once they were hired and began work I was not so sure they had not embellished some of their responses. A background check company can verify information that a candidate puts on an application before they are hired. If you have a job that requires accurate data entry skills and the prospective employee indicates they have worked for a business doing this type of work, a background check company can verify that. If you need someone to work with finances and budgeting and you have an applicant indicate they received a finance degree from a university, you may not be able to establish it is true. A pre-employment screening can validate that information and let you know the information provided is correct. Places of residence, social security number verifications, criminal history and driving records are also pieces of information that can be gathered when employee background checks are conducted.
Potential dishonest employee activity can be a significant issue when addressing inventory control problems. If workers are stealing merchandise then it is apparent you are not in control, at least in that instance. A background check company can conduct a criminal background check on the candidate you are considering before you finalize a decision on whether to bring that person on the team. Your interview questions and application may ask whether someone has a felony conviction but if they lie and you aren’t doing employee background checks it is unlikely you will find out about their criminal history. This is not an admonition against hiring someone with a prior conviction, I actually encourage giving opportunities to people who are making an effort to turn their lives around. I do believe it is acceptable to put them in positions that will not put a company or their clients at risk for theft and let them prove they are worthy of an employer’s trust. On the other hand, if they aren’t being honest on an application about their past then regardless of the reason for lying they have demonstrated credibility issues before they are even hired. Pre-employment screening removes the risk of hiring the wrong person who may hurt inventory control in the long term.
Another inventory control concern is the freight receiving process and vendor credit and chargeback handling. In most cases these jobs require someone who is attentive to detailed work. They must be able to identify paperwork errors when an invoice doesn’t match the product received. A digit in the wrong place can be costly if not caught. Does billing match what was received? Are vendors giving all the credits due to the store when they take merchandise out of the store? All of this requires a person who doesn’t mind challenging an error when they find it and ensuring it gets fixed. If you seek a person with experience in this field and they have indicated on their application they worked for a company doing this job, pre-employment screening can come in handy. The background check company can verify past employment, guaranteeing you are hiring the person you think you are hiring.
Employee background checks do have an impact on the inventory control in your store. A company I used to work for used to teach us, “Right Person, Right Place, Right Time”. Make sure you are getting the right person ALL the time by using a background check company.
Get more information on a background check company, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today
As a retail business owner, I know how hard it is to find adequate security resources to stop shoplifting and to protect your merchandise. Throughout my career I have tried various options, all of which vary considerably when it comes to price, quality and effectiveness. Poor quality security products can be very frustrating to small business owners, especially when the cost of security is often a financial burden to start with. That is why it is important for you to get quality products the first time, so you can avoid the added cost and headache associated with buying inadequate products. I don’t know how many times I have purchased a product hoping that it would meet my security needs; just to determine that the poor quality makes it more trouble than it is worth. I believe that knowledge is power and in this industry it is imperative that we try and share our experiences and help each other avoid making the same mistakes. That is why I purchase Checkpoint labels, because they provide a multi-faceted retail & security function. Their quality is unparalleled and I am always pleasantly surprised by the products’ effectiveness.
Checkpoint labels provide a convenient and cost-efficient way to stop shoplifting and protect all of your products. There are various types of labels, which come in different shapes and sizes, to meet all of your product needs. These labels can be equipped with EAS technology to provide accurate security notification. They are equipped with state of the art technology, which provides improved frequency programming capabilities to ensure proper EAS activation and deactivation, which ultimately improves customer satisfaction. You can also purchase applicators and printers specific to these types of labels, which makes it very convenient to create your own custom labels, and affix them quickly and efficiently. The printers allow you to add pricing, barcodes or branding information in order to customize them to meet your retail needs. The applicators provide a quick and efficient means to apply the labels to bulk product at the store level, which saves time and money. These labels are made with a high quality adhesive to ensure the labels stay affixed once they are applied to the product. Using inferior labels will result in higher costs and product loss; trust me I know from experience. Using Checkpoint labels has allowed my business to combine both the pricing and EAS security into one tagging system. Using one label has saved me a considerable amount of money and improved product security.
As a retail owner or manager it is important to choose quality protection to stop shoplifting. This will help you to avoid products that do not function properly or fail to meet your security needs. I have had my fair share of labels that have fallen off or have been removed in the store, thus rendering them ineffective. In many instances the cheap labels would include many labels that didn’t even activate, sometimes up to half of the roll, which only adds to the overhead cost of security. It is a horrible feeling to find your security labels in random places throughout the store, knowing your property is just walking out the door. Checkpoint labels are a quality product that will not only adhere properly, but will also allow for convenient application and printing options, to service all your needs. The labels are equipped with EAS technology that supersedes other brands that claim to be equally compatible. Don’t waste your money purchasing an inferior product when you can get the best quality products all in one place.
Need information on Checkpoint Labels? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
AA Blog 31
Alpha Spider Wrap: 5
Prevent Shoplifting: 3
When It Comes To Protecting Your Large Bulky Items, The Alpha Spider Wrap Is The Best On The Market
Working in retail is not always fun, customer service and dealing with issues, are often very frustrating. I am sure everyone who has ever worked in retail has their fair share of stories, me included. I have found it very interesting to see how blatant people have become when it comes to shoplifting. It seems as though people who are caught shoplifting respond differently than they did when I was younger, or least that is my perception. When I was younger it seemed as though shoplifting was such a negative thing, and people were ashamed and embarrassed when they would get caught stealing. Today, rather than feeling remorseful, shoplifters are brasher about it, and tend to get angry at store employees when they are caught. I have had shoplifters throw stolen items at me, fight me, and even admonish me for catching them. They tend to be less inconspicuous about their thievery as well, which is sometimes good for us, but also poses problems when it comes to properly securing merchandise. It seems it is easier for people to steal from us when they act impulsively, because we are not expecting the behavior, which makes it hard to mitigate our risk. For example, we had some televisions on display in our store, which were rather large and difficult to manage without assistance. Because of this we decided not to place any additional security on these items, as we felt taking them would be rather obvious. That was until we had two guys come in the store and steal two of them in a matter of minutes. These guys simply grabbed one TV each, and walked right out the door. They simply placed the items into a waiting car out front and were in and out in about 2 minutes. By the time anyone knew what was happening they were already gone. We learned our lesson the hard way that day, now we prevent shoplifting by securing all of our items, even the large bulky items, with Alpha Spider Wraps.
Alpha Spider Wraps provide a means to protect those large or oddly shaped items that may be of higher value like televisions, tools, shoes, video consoles, computer equipment and various other items. These can be applied in store and provide a snug fit to prevent tampering. The Alpha Spider Wraps are equipped with an audible EAS alarm and an LED visual deterrent in the event someone tries to remove the item from the store. An alarm will sound in the event that someone tampers or removes the device in store as well. This can help alert store personnel to these types of brazen attempts to take your merchandise and prevent shoplifting. Even if you can’t stop them at least you are alerted to the theft so you can attempt to get some description of the suspects or the vehicle before they leave the property. This can help law enforcement in their subsequent investigation and ultimately lead to a recovery. Following the incident at my store, we started securing the majority of our high priced items, even if they are bulky, so we don’t have a similar situation occur. We lost $2400 in merchandise that day and had no leads to help investigate the theft.
Many stores become complacent because they think that store associates are the first line of defense to prevent shoplifting, but in reality that is not the case. Store associates are a valuable part of any loss prevention program, but they are not always available to detect criminal activity. That is why it is imperative that you protect your property with the Alpha Spider Wrap. It provides a method to alert store personnel in the event of a theft and provides a visual deterrent at a reasonable price.
Need information on Alpha Spider Wraps? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Working in retail is not always fun, customer service and dealing with issues, are often very frustrating. I am sure everyone who has ever worked in retail has their fair share of stories, me included. I have found it very interesting to see how blatant people have become when it comes to shoplifting. It seems as though people who are caught shoplifting respond differently than they did when I was younger, or least that is my perception. When I was younger it seemed as though shoplifting was such a negative thing, and people were ashamed and embarrassed when they would get caught stealing. Today, rather than feeling remorseful, shoplifters are brasher about it, and tend to get angry at store employees when they are caught. I have had shoplifters throw stolen items at me, fight me, and even admonish me for catching them. They tend to be less inconspicuous about their thievery as well, which is sometimes good for us, but also poses problems when it comes to properly securing merchandise. It seems it is easier for people to steal from us when they act impulsively, because we are not expecting the behavior, which makes it hard to mitigate our risk. For example, we had some televisions on display in our store, which were rather large and difficult to manage without assistance. Because of this we decided not to place any additional security on these items, as we felt taking them would be rather obvious. That was until we had two guys come in the store and steal two of them in a matter of minutes. These guys simply grabbed one TV each, and walked right out the door. They simply placed the items into a waiting car out front and were in and out in about 2 minutes. By the time anyone knew what was happening they were already gone. We learned our lesson the hard way that day, now we prevent shoplifting by securing all of our items, even the large bulky items, with Alpha Spider Wraps.
Alpha Spider Wraps provide a means to protect those large or oddly shaped items that may be of higher value like televisions, tools, shoes, video consoles, computer equipment and various other items. These can be applied in store and provide a snug fit to prevent tampering. The Alpha Spider Wraps are equipped with an audible EAS alarm and an LED visual deterrent in the event someone tries to remove the item from the store. An alarm will sound in the event that someone tampers or removes the device in store as well. This can help alert store personnel to these types of brazen attempts to take your merchandise and prevent shoplifting. Even if you can’t stop them at least you are alerted to the theft so you can attempt to get some description of the suspects or the vehicle before they leave the property. This can help law enforcement in their subsequent investigation and ultimately lead to a recovery. Following the incident at my store, we started securing the majority of our high priced items, even if they are bulky, so we don’t have a similar situation occur. We lost $2400 in merchandise that day and had no leads to help investigate the theft.
Many stores become complacent because they think that store associates are the first line of defense to prevent shoplifting, but in reality that is not the case. Store associates are a valuable part of any loss prevention program, but they are not always available to detect criminal activity. That is why it is imperative that you protect your property with the Alpha Spider Wrap. It provides a method to alert store personnel in the event of a theft and provides a visual deterrent at a reasonable price.
Need information on Alpha Spider Wraps? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
AA Blog 31
Alpha Spider Wrap: 5
Prevent Shoplifting: 3
When It Comes To Protecting Your Large Bulky Items, The Alpha Spider Wrap Is The Best On The Market
Working in retail is not always fun, customer service and dealing with issues, are often very frustrating. I am sure everyone who has ever worked in retail has their fair share of stories, me included. I have found it very interesting to see how blatant people have become when it comes to shoplifting. It seems as though people who are caught shoplifting respond differently than they did when I was younger, or least that is my perception. When I was younger it seemed as though shoplifting was such a negative thing, and people were ashamed and embarrassed when they would get caught stealing. Today, rather than feeling remorseful, shoplifters are brasher about it, and tend to get angry at store employees when they are caught. I have had shoplifters throw stolen items at me, fight me, and even admonish me for catching them. They tend to be less inconspicuous about their thievery as well, which is sometimes good for us, but also poses problems when it comes to properly securing merchandise. It seems it is easier for people to steal from us when they act impulsively, because we are not expecting the behavior, which makes it hard to mitigate our risk. For example, we had some televisions on display in our store, which were rather large and difficult to manage without assistance. Because of this we decided not to place any additional security on these items, as we felt taking them would be rather obvious. That was until we had two guys come in the store and steal two of them in a matter of minutes. These guys simply grabbed one TV each, and walked right out the door. They simply placed the items into a waiting car out front and were in and out in about 2 minutes. By the time anyone knew what was happening they were already gone. We learned our lesson the hard way that day, now we prevent shoplifting by securing all of our items, even the large bulky items, with Alpha Spider Wraps.
Alpha Spider Wraps provide a means to protect those large or oddly shaped items that may be of higher value like televisions, tools, shoes, video consoles, computer equipment and various other items. These can be applied in store and provide a snug fit to prevent tampering. The Alpha Spider Wraps are equipped with an audible EAS alarm and an LED visual deterrent in the event someone tries to remove the item from the store. An alarm will sound in the event that someone tampers or removes the device in store as well. This can help alert store personnel to these types of brazen attempts to take your merchandise and prevent shoplifting. Even if you can’t stop them at least you are alerted to the theft so you can attempt to get some description of the suspects or the vehicle before they leave the property. This can help law enforcement in their subsequent investigation and ultimately lead to a recovery. Following the incident at my store, we started securing the majority of our high priced items, even if they are bulky, so we don’t have a similar situation occur. We lost $2400 in merchandise that day and had no leads to help investigate the theft.
Many stores become complacent because they think that store associates are the first line of defense to prevent shoplifting, but in reality that is not the case. Store associates are a valuable part of any loss prevention program, but they are not always available to detect criminal activity. That is why it is imperative that you protect your property with the Alpha Spider Wrap. It provides a method to alert store personnel in the event of a theft and provides a visual deterrent at a reasonable price.
Need information on Alpha Spider Wraps? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Working in retail is not always fun, customer service and dealing with issues, are often very frustrating. I am sure everyone who has ever worked in retail has their fair share of stories, me included. I have found it very interesting to see how blatant people have become when it comes to shoplifting. It seems as though people who are caught shoplifting respond differently than they did when I was younger, or least that is my perception. When I was younger it seemed as though shoplifting was such a negative thing, and people were ashamed and embarrassed when they would get caught stealing. Today, rather than feeling remorseful, shoplifters are brasher about it, and tend to get angry at store employees when they are caught. I have had shoplifters throw stolen items at me, fight me, and even admonish me for catching them. They tend to be less inconspicuous about their thievery as well, which is sometimes good for us, but also poses problems when it comes to properly securing merchandise. It seems it is easier for people to steal from us when they act impulsively, because we are not expecting the behavior, which makes it hard to mitigate our risk. For example, we had some televisions on display in our store, which were rather large and difficult to manage without assistance. Because of this we decided not to place any additional security on these items, as we felt taking them would be rather obvious. That was until we had two guys come in the store and steal two of them in a matter of minutes. These guys simply grabbed one TV each, and walked right out the door. They simply placed the items into a waiting car out front and were in and out in about 2 minutes. By the time anyone knew what was happening they were already gone. We learned our lesson the hard way that day, now we prevent shoplifting by securing all of our items, even the large bulky items, with Alpha Spider Wraps.
Alpha Spider Wraps provide a means to protect those large or oddly shaped items that may be of higher value like televisions, tools, shoes, video consoles, computer equipment and various other items. These can be applied in store and provide a snug fit to prevent tampering. The Alpha Spider Wraps are equipped with an audible EAS alarm and an LED visual deterrent in the event someone tries to remove the item from the store. An alarm will sound in the event that someone tampers or removes the device in store as well. This can help alert store personnel to these types of brazen attempts to take your merchandise and prevent shoplifting. Even if you can’t stop them at least you are alerted to the theft so you can attempt to get some description of the suspects or the vehicle before they leave the property. This can help law enforcement in their subsequent investigation and ultimately lead to a recovery. Following the incident at my store, we started securing the majority of our high priced items, even if they are bulky, so we don’t have a similar situation occur. We lost $2400 in merchandise that day and had no leads to help investigate the theft.
Many stores become complacent because they think that store associates are the first line of defense to prevent shoplifting, but in reality that is not the case. Store associates are a valuable part of any loss prevention program, but they are not always available to detect criminal activity. That is why it is imperative that you protect your property with the Alpha Spider Wrap. It provides a method to alert store personnel in the event of a theft and provides a visual deterrent at a reasonable price.
Need information on Alpha Spider Wraps? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Checkpoint tags-4 WC blog 243
clothing security tags-3
Clothing security-4
Security tags on clothes-3
Employee Theft Of Clothes Can Be Curtailed With Checkpoint Tags
Apparel store owners and managers, where do you think the majority of your store shrinkage is occurring? Your first reaction may be shoplifters and that would be a good guess. It would also be the wrong guess. According to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer, North American Apparel Specialist Retailers experienced 44% of their losses from dishonest employees (pg. 54). Shoplifting did follow at a close 41% as a cause of shrinkage with vendor/supplier fraud and administrative and non-crime losses accounting for the remaining 16% of losses. Total shortage for Apparel Retailers during this time frame equaled 1.98% so if your store is trending with the national average, how are you addressing the almost 45% of losses in your store taking place due to employee theft? What steps are you taking to address clothing security and protect your bottom line? If you aren’t using Checkpoint tags on apparel you are doing a disservice to your business.
What are Checkpoint tags for clothing? Clothing security tags by Checkpoint are radio frequency sensitive devices that are clipped to garments. When a protected item is carried near a door with a Checkpoint antenna the tag causes the antenna alarm to activate. Lights flash and a loud noise will draw the attention of employees. An employee who responds to an alarm determines the cause of the alarm and can recover merchandise that has not been paid for by the customer/thief. Clothing security tags are a visible deterrent to anyone who may consider trying to steal an item. Most people are familiar with security tags on clothes and will try to find an unprotected item rather than take a chance with setting off the antenna when they are ready to leave. One other advantage of clothing security devices is that they require a special detachment tool to remove them. If someone forcibly removes a tag it damages the garment. If damaged, the merchandise loses its appeal to the thief.
Returning to the point I made at the beginning of the article, can Checkpoint tags prevent that 45% of the losses employee theft may be costing your business? The answer is yes, they can. There are several things to keep in mind to ensure that clothing security is not compromised when it comes to preventing employee theft. One thing I saw during a few of my internal employee investigation cases was that electronic article surveillance antenna alarm activations by an employee were often shrugged off. All alarm activations should be treated with the same response. There is a tendency for co-workers to bond and in doing so there is an inherent trust that forms. Dishonest employees will use this trust to engage in dishonest activity. All employees should understand how to respond to respond to an alarm and how to look for security tags on clothes that may set off that alarm. The same level of response applies to customers and employees with thorough bag checks and receipt inspections.
Clothing security detachment tools must also be properly controlled and accounted for daily. The easiest method is to use the detachment tool that can be secured to the counter and make a check of it part of the daily opening tasks. If you have portable detachers for your employees who stock freight and attach tags to new merchandise, require them to sign their device in and out and a supervisor or manager locks them away. Dishonest employees may try to steal a detachment tool and use it to remove Checkpoint tags and then the clothes they were protecting.
Finally, a daily check of the Checkpoint system should be documented. This inspection does not take long, but it verifies that deactivation units are working, as are the antennas. If an employee knows the antennas are not working the dishonest one will use this knowledge as an opportunity to get merchandise with clothing security tags on them out of the store without creating an alarm.
Security tags on clothes are an effective method of significantly reducing shortage due to employee theft. If you haven’t invested in Checkpoint tags yet, check out what you may be costing yourself.
Clothing Security is important and we can help you with that. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Apparel store owners and managers, where do you think the majority of your store shrinkage is occurring? Your first reaction may be shoplifters and that would be a good guess. It would also be the wrong guess. According to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer, North American Apparel Specialist Retailers experienced 44% of their losses from dishonest employees (pg. 54). Shoplifting did follow at a close 41% as a cause of shrinkage with vendor/supplier fraud and administrative and non-crime losses accounting for the remaining 16% of losses. Total shortage for Apparel Retailers during this time frame equaled 1.98% so if your store is trending with the national average, how are you addressing the almost 45% of losses in your store taking place due to employee theft? What steps are you taking to address clothing security and protect your bottom line? If you aren’t using Checkpoint tags on apparel you are doing a disservice to your business.
What are Checkpoint tags for clothing? Clothing security tags by Checkpoint are radio frequency sensitive devices that are clipped to garments. When a protected item is carried near a door with a Checkpoint antenna the tag causes the antenna alarm to activate. Lights flash and a loud noise will draw the attention of employees. An employee who responds to an alarm determines the cause of the alarm and can recover merchandise that has not been paid for by the customer/thief. Clothing security tags are a visible deterrent to anyone who may consider trying to steal an item. Most people are familiar with security tags on clothes and will try to find an unprotected item rather than take a chance with setting off the antenna when they are ready to leave. One other advantage of clothing security devices is that they require a special detachment tool to remove them. If someone forcibly removes a tag it damages the garment. If damaged, the merchandise loses its appeal to the thief.
Returning to the point I made at the beginning of the article, can Checkpoint tags prevent that 45% of the losses employee theft may be costing your business? The answer is yes, they can. There are several things to keep in mind to ensure that clothing security is not compromised when it comes to preventing employee theft. One thing I saw during a few of my internal employee investigation cases was that electronic article surveillance antenna alarm activations by an employee were often shrugged off. All alarm activations should be treated with the same response. There is a tendency for co-workers to bond and in doing so there is an inherent trust that forms. Dishonest employees will use this trust to engage in dishonest activity. All employees should understand how to respond to an alarm and how to look for security tags on clothes that may set off that alarm. The same level of response applies to customers and employees with thorough bag checks and receipt inspections.
Clothing security detachment tools must also be properly controlled and accounted for daily. The easiest method is to use the detachment tool that can be secured to the counter and make a check of it part of the daily opening tasks. If you have portable detachers for your employees who stock freight and attach tags to new merchandise, require them to sign their device in and out and a supervisor or manager locks them away. Dishonest employees may try to steal a detachment tool and use it to remove Checkpoint tags and then the clothes they were protecting.
Finally, a daily check of the Checkpoint system should be documented. This inspection does not take long, but it verifies that deactivation units are working, as are the antennas. If an employee knows the antennas are not working the dishonest one will use this knowledge as an opportunity to get merchandise with clothing security tags on them out of the store without creating an alarm.
Security tags on clothes are an effective method of significantly reducing shortage due to employee theft. If you haven’t invested in Checkpoint tags yet, check out what you may be costing yourself.
Clothing Security is important and we can help you with that. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
