Ways To Avoid Retail Theft

The thing about theft is that you never really catch up.

If a $100 item is stolen from you, and you operate on a 25% margin, you need to sell $400 more just to make up for that one theft.   

So where’s your profit on that additional $400 sale?

But really, theft prevention provides an even greater financial benefit than it seems. Theft reduction adds directly to your profit. Stolen merchandise comes directly out of your bottom line.

Plus, it’s just plain frustrating to be robbed.

Don’t think that just because you have a small store, or your customers are “from the neighborhood” you are safe from shoplifters. Many shopkeepers tell stories of “regulars they thought they knew” stealing from them.

Don’t think that because your store is small, you can keep an eye on everything.  Check out YouTube, or your local police report. You’ll find plenty of examples of theft from small shops.  Are you cutting back on staff? What’s going on when you’re in the stockroom?  What’s going on when you are helping another customer?  Are you fully watching the store as you answer the phone or check a customer out?  The fact is that you can’t be watching everything all the time.

So what’s a small shopkeeper to do?

Here are a few tips that you can implement immediately.   

1. Provide Good Service.  Nothing is effective as having people around.  When you make it inconvenient for people to steal from you, they usually don’t. They are interested in your product, not getting caught. Welcome every customer as they enter your store.
2. Know Your Product and Pricing.  One common technique of thieves is to change price tags. If you don’t know every price by heart, at least have a sense of what pricing should be. When an item comes to the register that doesn’t seem right, double check.
3. Keep Your Store Orderly and Stocked.  This will help you notice missing items.
4. Have Appropriate Suspicion.  It’s not about ethnicity, age, hairstyle or economic condition. There are ample examples of upper class shoplifters. Watch how people are dressed. For example, an inappropriately heavy or baggy coat out of season may be a vehicle to hide items. Are they carrying a large bag? Watch where people go in your store. Do they tend to move from one hidden area to another?  How do they react when you talk to them?
5. Verify Returns.  One technique of thieves is to legitimately purchase an item, and then return an empty (or weighted) box. Verify all returns. Check receipts (you can use gift receipts). Make sure returned products are complete. If you use electronic security, re-tag returned merchandise.
6. Work With Your Colleagues.  When suspicious, be sure to alert your co-workers.
7. React Appropriately.  When you do suspect shoplifting, respond and react politely. Don’t accuse. Approach the customer to offer service. Politely talk to the person; offer customer assistance, ask to check their bag and “double check” your receipt.
8. Train Your Employees to provide good customer service and to identify suspicious customer activity. Theft prevention is not just a management responsibility. There are training videos available to help.
9. Know Your Police Department. Talk with local public safety and security professionals about general rules of thumb regarding the best way to react. Don’t risk personal safety or legal problems by reacting inappropriately.

As you can see, these tips focus on customer service. Understand the balance between good customer service and customer harassment. These techniques will provide you with happier customers, lower theft and higher profits. 

 Contributed by Alan Herbach, who is President of American Theft Prevention Products, Inc. (www.AmericanTheftPrevention.com) which provides retailers with tools to effectively combat shoplifting. Alan can be reached by email at aherbach@AmTheft.com and can be followed on Twitter under the name AmTheft.

Ways to Avoid Retail Theft

This past February, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that retail theft if on the rise due to our struggling economy. While theft is always an issue, this recent report cited that there are more organized groups than ever before committing retail theft and then reselling the stolen goods to gain profit from their illegal actions. These groups, referred to as Organized Retail Crime (ORC) result in a loss of over 30 billion dollars a year for retailers. As independent retailers, there area a few things you can do to help decrease your odds of being a part of theft.

1. Research shows that communicating with your customers decreases theft. Say hello to all customers that walk into your store within 30 seconds or a minute at the most so that they know you are aware of their presence and are alert with their actions. Continue to acknowledge them while they are in your store with engaging questions about your store, your product, or how you can help them. By reaching out to them throughout their store visit, they will have less likely of an opportunity to feel alone enough to commit a crime. An added bonus – since most customers are not in your store to shop lift, this simply provides increased customer service!

2. Make sure that you are aware of the inventory in your store. Keep an accurate checklist, whether manually, through Quickbooks or your own excel spreadsheet, so that you are aware of what is currently in stock, out of stock, damaged, sold, or missing. If you find that certain items are missing, it is likely they are a high theft item. Be aware of what may be considered high theft to avoid their potential loss as well as to provide extra overview on these products. You can do this by merchandising these products close to the cash wrap or where ever you and your staff are the most often. Another idea is to secure them with security tags that will alarm if they leave the store.

3. Install video cameras in your store. The catch? Even cameras that don’t work will alert thefts and persuade them NOT to shoplift. You can purchase video cameras that appear to be real or even buy real but used cameras that no longer work. Of course, working cameras would be your best bet but this is a costly investment that not everyone can afford. One company to check out for these options would be Security Tag Store, www.securitytagstore.com.

4. The floor plan of your store can increase or decrease your chance for theft. Try and balance your store space so that you have visible access to all areas in which a customer may be, with exception to a dressing room, of course. Use mirrors to see challenging corners that may not otherwise be visible. Lock up expensive merchandise in glass cases or with security tags. Do not allow customers access to dressing rooms without having to be let in by a sales associate and limit the number of items they can take into the room with them. When they come out of the room, count the products that came out with them to make sure nothing is missing. You can also use alarms on doors that should not be opened so that customers cannot sneak out a back door. Even customer bathrooms should be locked so that you can monitor who is going in and out of them. While this may seem like a few more extra steps then there is time in your day, all of these actions will provide valuable store security if you need it. In addition, it also provides supportive customer service.

5. Signage can be used to reinforce security messages. Let shoppers know you have security cameras or that your store has a security alarm system. Make sure potential thefts are reminded that you have sales associates watching both customers and products throughout the store. Don’t be scared to alarm them with “Shoplifters will be prosecuted” signs, as well.

Finally, make sure that your store is well kept in an effort to help you see what is out of place or possibly stolen. Tidy up every day throughout the day and make sure all of your sales associates do this, as well. Remind everyone, including yourself, that is not just to have a great looking store but also to avoid theft.

We need to hope that most customers are still honest and trustworthy, but as the saying goes – better safe than sorry! Make sure you are taking care of your store by  taking control of your store security.