After all, it’s the busiest trading time of the year. In fact more than 30 percent of the year’s retail business occurs in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s big business.
But it’s also great pickings for thieves.
Shoplifting affects retailers all year but the worst cases are often found during Christmas trading. There is more stock on the floor, extended trading hours, more people in the store and your staff are much busier serving people. The holiday season presents great challenges to retailers that test the awareness and trustworthiness of staff and the security of your business. Customers should add value to your business, not try and steal from it.
Mike Ramsay from ARA Security believes that loss prevention is more than minimising retail shrinkage, it’s about thinking ahead. “Why wait until your business becomes a crime statistic? Why just budget for a percentage of loss as the price of doing business?
“By implementing a loss prevention strategy there are also a number of flow-on benefits such as lower insurance premiums and a safer environment for customers and staff. In our experience, this means longer and repeat customer visits and a lower staff turnover through increased morale,” Mike says.
Different retail business environments require different solutions. A large range of anti-theft solutions, electronic or otherwise are available for retailers. Effective signage is the first strategy for consideration. Clear signage that declares the store’s policy on shop lifting and sales returns or that the store is monitored creates the perception of greater risk to the would-be thief. While signs are unlikely to have an effect on the committed criminal, petty thieves are often deterred when they are reminded of the barriers to theft and the consequences.
Moving onto electronic security solutions, a basic intruder alarm is a necessary and cost-effective part of the security strategy. Duress buttons may complement a retailer’s security solution and also satisfy a duty of care component an employer has to their staff. After an armed robbery, a major supermarket chain was recently fined $90,000 for failing to provide duress buttons for their staff.
Retailers can then further extend their security by installing recording devices such as CCTV and DVR technologies. The latest Point of Sale security solutions are extremely effective in not only recording customer movements but also staff cash register transactions. Access Control systems can control the access and egress of staff and customers. Basic Access Control, from button triggered door access and swipe cards to the latest biometric technology, is all available.
Many loss prevention strategies are available to help keep your business secure and minimise stock shrinkage. Any security strategy should incorporate 24 hour security monitoring. On the activation of an alarm, a good security company will be able to execute a pre-arranged action response plan with rapid alarm response times 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
