Does the way you manage your employees have an effect on how much they try to stop shoplifting in your store or how they perform their jobs for that matter? Do poor work habits ever carry over from a previous employer they had that don’t work in your store? Sometimes we recruit and hire a new worker based on the experience they bring from working for another retailer. It seems like a good idea, they won’t need a lot of training and if the other employer didn’t fire them they must be a good worker. I was talking with one of my sons the other day about his work and he was relating about issues they are having with a co-worker. This employee came from a big box retail store that sells groceries among everything else a customer may need. It seems some of the “tricks of the trade” grocery stockers used there are showing up in my son’s grocery store, tricks that they do not permit in this company. Cases of canned goods are left in the boxes and placed on the shelf. If there is overstock merchandise rather than sending it to the stockroom it is being shoved on top of other merchandise or facings are adjusted to accommodate them. My son says that the department manager has talked to the new employee about this and my son has tried to point out what he is doing wrong but he is not improving. Managers, do you have “talks” with your employees or do you spend time training them and coaching? How about your anti-theft procedures? Are you taking time to actually train your employees on how to respond to a Sensormatic security system alarm? Do you show them how to tag merchandise with security labels or hard tags to prevent theft? Talk is cheap so the saying goes. Training and coaching is not, it is time-consuming and it can be tedious but if done correctly the rewards are tremendous.
Can training relate to theft prevention and store operations? Absolutely it can, just as shortage, store operations and profits are all directly tied to each other. Try running a store where shortage related to theft, operational errors and vendor mistakes is left unchecked. Store shelves go empty, replenishment of products is slow and inconsistent if it happens at all and sales dry up as shoppers leave for lack of products or variety of products. Training of new employees must not be a quick 10 minute lesson on the cash register or salesfloor. It has to be a detailed, comprehensive list of job responsibilities that someone has to spend time on demonstrating and then letting the worker go hands on. AFTER a training checklist has been completed supervisors then have to monitor performance and provide feedback as the employee begins to do the job solo. Is merchandise being placed on shelves or hung up according to YOUR expectations? Do you want clothes hung up and sized? Do you have a height level you are allowing canned goods to be stacked? Do you want Sensormatic security system tags placed on a uniform location on clothing? All of these things are important to how the store operates.
Stacking cans too high or “making space” on the shelf for overstock can impact how much other product is placed on the shelf or impede a customer’s ability to take a can from a shelf. Clothing not sized or grouped properly may throw off your ability to order more of a certain size of product. It could also bleed over to sloppy habits and racks becoming unshoppable or sloppy. Customers may be turned off or frustrated having to search through fixtures and choose to leave rather than buy a new item. Inconsistent placement of security tags can lead to a reduction in theft deterrence (crooks tend to leave merchandise alone when they see tags) and an increase in false electronic article surveillance alarms. If cashiers don’t know where tags are or don’t see them they may forget to remove them or deactivate them. Too many false alarms and employees get complacent with alarm responses and the alarms no longer stop shoplifting.
When time is taken to properly train and teach, employees are more confident in what they are doing and it makes them happier. Happier employees take pride in their work they understand the impact of what they are doing and take a real interest in how to stop shoplifting and how the Sensormatic security system works. They care about product placement and appearance. While they own much of their success you and your management are responsible for it too. Do it right and watch your store grow and keep turnover low.
Need information on Sensormatic security systems? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 today.
You’ve invested thousands of dollars in all the new whiz-bang anti-theft products on the market and you still see shoplifting losses hit your P+L weekly. Could it be that the products just don’t work? Probably not. More than likely, your staff, specifically your managers, could use some training to get the most return out of our loss prevention investments. So, what do you do and how do you train your managers to Stop Shoplifting?
The first step really is more philosophical than anything tangible you can do, or purchase. It’s building a culture in your business that theft, whether it be customer theft, or Employee Theft, is something that is not tolerated. Your managers must be promoting loss prevention awareness topics daily, just as they discuss your sales goals and store promotions. Loss prevention has to be finely woven in the fabric of your company for any physical controls to be effective.
This is something, that as an owner, you have to make important. All too often, I see store teams treat loss prevention as “something extra” they have to do. That’s simply just not the case. If you want to Stop Shoplifting and reduce Employee Theft, I’d start with a few simple suggestions.
1. Be open and have frank discussions with your teams about the consequences of stealing from your store. They should be aware of the bleak outcome of any employee that is caught stealing.
2. Never go easy or turn a blind eye to a thief. Not only will this make you and your store a soft target, it will start a snowball effect that you’ll never recover from. If employees know that they can give a sob story to you after you catch them stealing money, you’ll find that you’ll be making loans for years to come…
3. Prosecute everyone, no matter what. This is how you really slow down Employee Theft. Everyone has to understand there are consequences for their actions. The same goes for every shoplifter that you encounter.
4. Conduct routine training with your managers at least once a month to refresh them on your expectations, their responsibilities and to discuss any trends in the store.
5. Put together training material that can be easily referenced by your managers.
While there will never be a secret recipe to completely Stop Shoplifting and Employee Theft, a small investment in training on your part can pay off in large dividends down the road. Remember, if you treat your managers and employees with respect, make your expectations regarding loss prevention clear, and operate your business with loss prevention practices on the “front burner”, you will see that losses by theft will not be an issue.
For more information about Employee Theft, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
How is it that a pair of shoplifters can enter a store, remove EAS tags from clothing and in the process fill up an entire shopping cart? I read an article on winknews.com, by Derrick Shaw, September 7, 2018, “Cape Coral Police ask for help Identifying two Burlington theft suspects” and according to the report this is exactly what happened. The pair left with $600 in merchandise and an exterior video camera captured a picture of the suspect’s car in the parking lot. As I looked at the picture of the dynamic duo entering the store and the picture posted of the car and parking lot a couple of things stood out to me that piqued my Loss Prevention curiosity. First, there are electronic article surveillance antennas at the doors and a closed circuit television camera was used to gather pictures so security is a priority in some fashion. I also noted it was night time and the parking lot was devoid of cars. I can only see two vehicles in the entire parking lot and one is believed to belong to the criminals. This leads me to believe there were very few shoppers in the store and these two should have stood out. Why were they able to remove EAS tags from $600 worth of clothing without being noticed by associates?
I am going to take an educated guess and say that if this crime took place in early September as the report indicates and it was as dark as the pictures indicate then it was most likely getting close to closing time. In my 27 years plus in retail I feel safe in assuming employees were more concerned with recovering the store from the activity earlier in the day. Clothing racks needed to be sized and straightened, garments on tables folded and placed back where they were supposed to go. I have no idea how many workers would have been in the store but if I had to take a stab at it I would guess anywhere from 3 – 5 people were working, a manager, a cashier, and a couple of salesfloor associates. There seems to have been a breakdown in priorities or training for employees on how to stop shoplifting needs to be reviewed. It does seem from my searching the internet that the stores do employ store level Loss Prevention Associates but I could not determine if every store has them or if they are in the store at all times. I know that in my years as a Loss Prevention Manager for a big box retailer with a Loss Prevention team we did not have the staff to cover the store from open to close. We relied on our store associates to provide exceptional customer service to help deter shoplifters and report suspicious activity in our absence.
Store managers and owners, many of you with smaller stores have to contend with theft issues with no support of a Loss Prevention professional. What do YOUR store employees do to deter crime? Have they been trained on the importance of providing customer service both to improve sales but also to stop shoplifting from taking place? Are you using EAS tags on your merchandise? Congratulations if you are using a Sensormatic security system and tags however, as we see in the case of the $600 clothing caper it does little good if there is no customer service to support it. A balanced approach to theft prevention requires the installation of an anti-theft system and training employees on how they deter criminals by offering help. They must also be trained on recognizing the signs someone intends to steal and steps to intervene appropriately. While awareness of activity at all times of the day or night is important there are indicators that shoplifters give off. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. provides training that will give you AND your associates the information and tools necessary to stop shoplifting and still get the daily tasks completed that keep a store running.
Small stores are going to have fewer employees at any given time than a national chain store. This makes it more crucial for your employees to be knowledgeable of how criminals operate and how to give service that will stop them. Placing EAS tags on merchandise is a deterrent to criminal activity but effectiveness is only as good as the people who are trained in how they work and how to respond to alarms. Let Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. give you all the information you need on Sensormatic systems and tags and how your employees can be an integral part of your merchandise protection strategy.
Need information on EAS tags? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
For many years I was a Retail Loss Prevention Manager and actively used Electronic Article Surveillance anti-theft devices to protect many high theft items. Two departments that we had an incredible amount of theft in were fragrances and skin care products. We tagged the boxes with security labels but found that we still were experiencing theft issues. The problem plagued most of the stores in the company and eventually Corporate Loss Prevention reviewed their strategy and worked with manufacturers to put the fragrances in blister packages. The packages were source tagged with security labels to stop shoplifting. The hard-nosed criminal didn’t want to fool with any kind of security device unfortunately they weren’t averse to using a knife or razor blade to circumvent the blister package to remove the product. Eventually individual security boxes became available to us to protect the merchandise. The boxes worked really well for the higher priced items. We were able to put more products on the shelf rather than limit the numbers on display. We also had the protection of electronic article surveillance with the security of a lock up showcase. A detachment key at the checkout lanes was required to open the boxes up in order to remove the product. So what could possibly be improved upon if we were seeing improvement in shortage numbers?
There is one area in which improvements could be made and it is an opportunity most people would not think about in a discussion on electronic article surveillance devices. The opportunity I am thinking of is flexibility of protection hardware. There are many different sized protection devices that help stop shoplifting but I have found that one size does not fit all. I have seen small packs of razor blades safely tucked away in a box that was also used for a large perfume bottle. I have personally had to use electronic article surveillance labels of one size to protect a compact disc and a label from the same roll to protect a box of medicine. It is a pain in the neck and if you take merchandise protection seriously it requires the purchase of a lot of different sized containers, wraps and labels to do it properly. Using a security box that is too large for the item being protected takes up unnecessary shelf space. This can limit the number of shelves or peg hooks you can use for merchandise displays and that cuts down on facings or varieties of products available to customers. Sensormatic has developed Adjustable Multi-Purpose Safers to make it easier to keep goods safe from criminals. These Safers give retailers more flexibility in the variety of devices that need to be purchased. One device can now protect a wider range of merchandise without requiring a planogram change to accommodate a bigger box than necessary.
The Adjustible Multi-Purpose Safers Can be raised and lowered to fit the height of the item you want to keep safe from criminals. Going back to my fragrance problem, I had to work with perfumes and cologne boxes of varying heights. Today’s merchants have the ability to stop shoplifting without having to buy nearly as many different anti-theft protection boxes as they once would have done. If you are one of those store owners who believes that locking or alarming display cases are the best protection for high theft items I have something for you to consider. I know that the perception is that lock-up cases are a guarantee against theft. Having worked in retail for over 28 years and over 17 of those years in Loss Prevention I know the problems showcases cause. They require an available associate to respond and unlock a case when a customer wants to look at an item. That isn’t even a sure sale. That employee is tied to that display case until the customer decides if they do or don’t want an item. IF the customer wants the item the employee has to take it to the checklane and ring it up or have a cashier hold it until the customer comes up to make the purchase. Safers allow customers to view a product and carry it around the store until they are ready to proceed to checkout. Managers get all of the security of a showcase and none of the hassle.
If you haven’t considered how you can save money through theft reduction and the use of electronic article surveillance equipment contact Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. If you are using Sensormatic equipment but need to find ways to save money or planogram changes due to protection devices talk to Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. about the Adjustable Multi-Purpose Safers from Sensormatic.
Electronic Article Surveillance is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
It is important stop shoplifting but it is just as important to find ways to prevent as much operational shortage as possible. In part 1 of this series I shared a recent story about finding merchandise during a transaction that could have resulted in shortage. A customer had placed 3 ring folders in a binder and failed to mention it as I rang the binder. I did look inside and discovered about $7 worth of merchandise. The operations on the front registers and how cashiers are processing merchandise can be a prime location for operational shortage. Aside from hidden merchandise there is the temptation to use a ‘quantity’ key when checking out a lot of merchandise that is the same. Scan the first item, do a count of the items and key in the total amount. It saves time over scanning each one right? Well maybe not. As I am working the back to school season I am finding a lot of issues with merchandise quantities that are wrong. One example was when I was looking for a specific colored folder for a customer. Our on-hands showed we had a certain number but I was unable to locate them. I encountered a similar problem with index cards and composition books. While Sensormatic systems can help prevent some operational errors as I mentioned in part 1, they can’t impact all errors. If merchandise is properly scanned and deactivated or tags are removed the system has done what it is designed to do. It did stop shoplifting and would have identified merchandise missed in a basket when merchandise was processed at the point of sale. It won’t have any impact on a register keying error or merchandise stocking errors on the salesfloor.
The on-hands problem was causing several problems. I had one customer looking for wide-ruled composition books for her child. I showed on hands of over a hundred but they were nowhere to be found. Having told the customer our system said we had plenty it led to a somewhat embarrassing situation for me. In another instance I had a customer looking for a certain style of index card. Our system showed we had a quantity of 35 I had to search and in the end I could only locate 10. At least we had them but we had 25 packages of index cards I could not account for. For the sake of this conversation let us assume the cards are priced at $1.00 each that is $25 in shortage. Were they stolen? I don’t think so (though I can’t completely rule it out since we don’t have tags on them to activate our Sensormatic systems). I believe cashiers were busy, got lazy and rang up one style of index cards counted the total in the sale and keyed in a quantity. They could easily have rung up a package of unlined 3×5 cards and failed to notice the other cards were 3×5 lined cards. It may seem like no big deal but if customers are coming to your store looking for an item and you think it is there and then it isn’t you are causing a huge customer service issue to yourself. Customers don’t go to places where they feel they can’t find what they want. To make matters worse if they have a poor shopping experience they may share it on social media. It also may delay your store replenishing the merchandise you need to get back in stock, leaving ugly holes on your store shelves.
Sensormatic systems are extremely effective when it comes to reducing theft and fraud and some operational shortage. Bill Bregar, the CEO of Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. a firm that helps small and medium sized retail stores prevent theft and fraud recommends this system to their clients. Store managers and owners must recognize that there is more to shortage reduction than to simply stop shoplifting. You must recognize where operational shortage happens and make that part of a larger shortage reduction action plan.
For more information on how to stop shoplifting, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
