If you are the owner or manager of a clothing store, where is your biggest opportunity to stop the theft of merchandise? Big boxes and small businesses alike can be the victims of inventory losses if they can not identify how their losses occur. Clothing Theft can be a simple crime of opportunity or a professional and planned out operation. Either way, deterrence is the key to taking your store out of those equations.
When customers walk into your business, they should be made to feel welcome. Your staff should offer a greeting of some sort, be it verbal or just eye contact and a smile. The added benefit to that is they also let a would-be thief know that they are aware of their presence. Aisles should be clear and uncluttered. Displays should be neat and organized. When your merchandise racks are disheveled and mixed up, they give the message that there is no attention given to the inventory on hand. A thief knows if you don’t know exactly what you have, you can’t know what you are missing.
There is one more thing to add to your plan, and that is the addition of Clothing Security Tags. I am sure you have seen them in different places you have shopped. Cash paying customers should have no issues with them, but they are a great deterrent for shoplifting. In the case of a customer coming in and suddenly getting the urge to steal the article, seeing that tag firmly attached can cause the idea to go away as fast as it appeared. It is apparent the tag is not going to come off easily, or without damaging the item if not removed properly. Clothing Security Tags are also effective at keeping professional shoplifters away. They know the tags will cause the alarm to sound if they try to get past the Checkpoint Pedestals. They also know they cannot risk damaging the merchandise by attempting to remove them, since they will certainly not profit from the stolen items near as much.
A recent story in the paper is a great testament and highlight of Clothing Security Tags. Two people came into a store and began removing expensive athletic clothing from certain racks. They did not appear to be looking at any specifics such as prices or even sizes. They were simply there for a targeted shopping list. They were taking the clothing they selected to the back of the small store, and hanging them on a clearance rack. The clerk that observed them was in the process of calling the police and giving a description of the couple to the operator, when one of them held up a garment by the attached tag. They started looking at the other items they had moved back there, and saw everything they had chosen had hard tags pinned to them. (The tags were not hidden; the thieves were just in too much of a hurry to notice) At that point they actually left the items hanging where they put them, and walked out the front door empty handed. Unfortunately for them, the police arrived before they were able to leave the parking lot, and questioned them because of their suspicious behavior. A search of their car resulted in the discovery of stolen merchandise, and shoplifting tools of the trade.
Clothing Security tags come in many different shapes, sizes, and even colors. They do not harm the appearance of the garments, or hinder customers from trying them on. They are just another way to help stop your valuable assets from going unpaid and out the front door.
For more information contact us at: Clothingsecurity.net or call 1.770.426.0547