10 Proven Ways To Reduce Shoplifting

By Author: Kevin Smith
Total Articles: 15
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People start their retail business with one step, and thereafter they keep improving striving to expand the dream. However, shoplifting could be a bothersome problem as it acts as a hindrance to one’s business growth. Shoplifting may appear as an act of little account or even go unnoticeable several times. But it can make a significant loss to the profit. For small businesses, it becomes painful to recover the losses due to the theft. Further, it will make your stock imbalance in the sense that, your physical stock will not match with the stock reported by your retail management software.

10 proven ways to reduce shoplifting:

1. Keep the Store Organized

It is easy to steal from a messy store as there is no track of items. When a shoplifter steals a product, you may not even recognize its absence. Therefore, such shops become easy targets having heavy losses. Keeping it organized will help you to find out easily when the product count is lower than expected.

2. Owner-Customer Relationship

When ...
... you develop a relationship with your customers, it is less likely that they will perform any act of theft. Moreover, if they find any such activity going on in your store, they will readily report it to you.

Building a relationship not only saves you from shoplifting but also provides you with loyal customers.

3. Keep a check on Internal Shoplifting

If you go easy on shoplifting, your employees may even take part in this crime. The internal shoplifting is easier as the person working in the shop will know about the flaws in the store security. Therefore, the only way is to build the same relationship that you have with your customers. Making your employees feel as a crucial part of the team will effectively avoid any instances of internal shoplifting.

4. Watch the Potential Shoplifter

You can never know whether a person is a shoplifter or not. However, there are good chances that you judge them by their behavior and appearance. First, one needs to check if the person is a loiterer. There can be a possibility that he is finding the right time to steal an item. You need to see if the clothes are loose enough to hide an object. Also, people carrying large-sized bags can be a problem for you. To avoid this, you can provide a locker facility or appoint an employee for the bag check.

5. Arrange your Products wisely

As the size of the product increases, the chances of stealing it decreases as the stealing of large-sized products are easily detectable. Therefore, one must arrange in products in such a way that the smaller items never remain out of sight.

On the other hand, you won’t need to pay much attention to the security of the items which cannot be stolen due to their sizes.

6. Inclusion of Mirrors in the Store

This idea may not look effective, but it actually has two benefits. If there are mirrors all around your shop, the shoplifter will remain conscious as mirrors trigger the sense of being watched. In addition, it provides a broader view to your employees, leaving no blind spot on the floor.

7. Implement an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) System

EAS system includes specialized tags that are attached to the products. Whenever these tags pass through an entrance or exit door, the detection system alerts the store staff that merchandise has passed through an entry or exit point. An alternative is attaching RFID tags to products. Put up Signs

You can put signs showing the fines against shoplifting, the action the store may take, etc. This shows that the store owner is strict against shoplifters. It induces a doubt in the shoplifter’s mind before conducting the crime. The best place to put the signs is the one where you keep items of high value such as electronics and jewelry.

8. Using a Point of Sale System

When you manually keep track of transactions, people may likely take advantage of it. One amongst many products may go unnoticed, and shoplifting may even increase at busy times. In such cases, internal cons can even take place when a staff member is handling the transactions.

In case you are using a POS system that has well-defined inventory management and peripheral support, a reduction in shoplifting will be significant. Record of every product will be added to the bill without fail if it provides barcode scanner connectivity.

In Ari Point of Sale, you have the option to allow the cashier to open the cash drawer only when the sales occur. This helps to reduce internal theft as it won’t be possible for an employee to check the drawers unnecessarily.

9. A Receipt check is a must

In a supermarket, it is easy to slip one item in the bag along with the other items. However, people will avoid doing this if you employ a person at the exit door for receipt and item checking. It will make sure the item in the bag is not a stolen one. It could be tough to check all the items, but a sense of someone inspecting the items will make a significant difference.

10. The obvious- Security Cameras

Security cameras build the most effective shield against shoplifting. The presence of security cameras is the best alternative of human resources you use to keep an eye on the buyers. With the fear of being detected, most of the people give up the idea of shoplifting even if they entered with the aim of stealing.

Ari, the premium retail management software, is a Web Masters’ Product. The company has earned recognition and reputation as an industry leader in the IT sector.