Sometimes it can feel like no matter what measures you take to prevent shoplifting, the thieves just keep coming. You can’t let that feeling stop you from keeping up with merchandise protection in your store. There’s not much you can do to stop shoplifters from coming into your store. You could try putting a sign outside that says “no shoplifters allowed”, but I would bet that the sign itself would get stolen within a week. What you can do is everything possible to keep them from stealing once they are inside the store, which includes using retail anti-theft devices and providing great customer service.
I remember a time I watched a guy walk into the store with a huge coat on, and head straight for the jewelry area. It was very hot outside, so the jacket was a good indicator that something was going to happen. No one that worked in the jewelry department was in the area at the time, which was a big mistake. Keeping high theft areas staffed is crucial if you want to prevent shoplifting. The guy started looking up at the ceiling and directly at the cameras, so I had a good idea of what was going to happen next.
He started looking in the showcases and attempted to reach behind the counter to open the large glass showcases. This attempt was unsuccessful, so he started to look at the spinning jewelry showcases or spinners that were on top of the counters. I was about to learn that these spinners were not as secure as we thought they were. He then squeezed his fingers into the side of the spinner’s door, and knocked jewelry off of the fixture that they were hanging on inside the spinner. The spinner cases were locked, but there was just enough flexibility in the doors for this to be accomplished. After that, the guy pulled the jewelry out of the showcase and put it right into his pockets.
As if that wasn’t enough, he decided it was a good idea to go to other departments and take other merchandise as well. At this point, his jacket had visibly grown even larger in size as he continued to conceal merchandise into it. He finally decided to leave the store, and of course he ran when I tried to talk to him. Thankfully, law enforcement was able to catch him down the street, and I recovered all of the merchandise.
Needless to say, after that experience we reinforced the jewelry spinner cases and added additional hinges, locks and blocked the open spaces. We also put an Alpha Jewel Lok on each of the more expensive pieces of jewelry that were inside the case. You may think that this was overkill, but it worked very well. If thieves attempted to pull the jewelry through the spinner doors again, the Alpha Jewel Lok would stop it from happening, because it is too large to be pulled through a small opening. If by chance they were able to remove the jewelry from the case, they would still have the extra measure of the retail anti-theft devices attached to the merchandise, so the alarm would go off at the door if they were brave enough to attempt to leave with the jewelry.
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547