Retail Theft Prevention Is Crucial To Success
Retail industry might seem glamorous from the outside but the inside story is quite different. Retail business has taken a hit as a result of the global recession and it’s taken its toll on an industry where the profit margins are just about 1-2%. Boosting sales has always been the preferred modus operandi for retailers to increase profits but that’s not happening today. However retailers can cut their expenditure by avoiding shrinkage and enhance the profitability of their business. And Retail Theft Prevention is imperative to achieving that in the retail industry.
Losses due to shrinkage have been on the rise despite retailers pumping in millions to try and eliminate its menace. And that’s because rarely do retailers get their strategies right when it comes to fighting shrinkage. It’s important to realize that one can only arrive at the appropriate strategies for their particular business needs based on detailed research and analysis about how shrinkage affects their business. Retail Theft is the major culprit all over the world and accounts for about 78% of the total shrinkage. If you realize that either customer or employee theft or a combination of both is affecting your business too, you need to devise a strategy to prevent it based on hard facts.
Retail Theft Prevention – some uncorrect actions
Many retailers go on about fighting shrinkage through haphazard, trial and error methods. These strategies only incur costs without paying any dividends. Moreover often retailers take steps that only hamper sales rather than counter occurrence of theft in stores. Hence it’s advisable to hire services of professional loss prevention companies who have carved a niche for themselves in the field of Retail Theft Prevention. Their vast experience comes handy as they understand how theft ails one’s business and device strategies that can prevent it. Moreover they offer long term solutions to businesses, which is a sound ploy.
However some retail managers might prefer to be hand’s on when it comes to Shrinkage Management and they need to bear a few things in mind about preventing theft in their store. The most important thing to remember is that theft quite simply is an act of opportunity. If retailers take adequate measures to remove that opportunity out of the picture, chances of theft occurrences in one’s store are naturally reduced. By taking simple steps like making sure there’s sufficient lighting in the store and expensive products are kept in secure cabinets can reduce instances of theft in a store.
Retail Theft Prevention – some advices
Retail Theft Prevention cannot be achieved by hiring security personnel alone. In fact several studies show that investing in security staff brings incredibly low return on investment for retailers. It’s virtually impossible to man every nook and corner in a store and hiring a battery of security staff can only add to costs. Technology has its advantages and retailers need to make the most of it. Use of CCTV cameras has proven to be a deterrent to many shoplifters and tills exit points also need to be updated with the latest, state of the art security systems.
But Retail Theft Prevention strategies can be successful only when retailers train their employees to fight the nuisance of shrinkage through theft. Dedicated teams assigned to the task are known to show phenomenal results in tackling shrinkage. There need to be stringent company policies in place to detract erring employees from indulging in such acts as well. Once retailers have a lethal combination of technology, policies and trained employees in place they can do away with shrinkage to a great extent. And in today’s time it’s the key to success of a retail business.