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By Tony DeMasi, editor
ere come the holidays! Here comes bigger business… and bigger losses.
Shoplifters love the holiday season. They know stores will be
more crowded than usual, and merchants will be more distracted
than usual. There’s no getting around it, but there are plenty of
things you can do to make sure it doesn’t get around you.
Last year, United States retail businesses lost almost $12 billion from shoplifting
alone. Holiday shopping accounts for nearly 25 percent of retail sales and an
increase in dollar volume lost due to theft increases in proportion during that
period.
What can you do to keep shoplifters from hitting your store? Plenty! Contact
your local law enforcement officials and insurance agents. Let them go through
every inch of your business — from the front to back door, every room, etc. They
are professionals and can give you the cold facts about what to do regarding making
your store less of a target for thieves. Most likely these services will be free.
No shoplifter is too old, young, or cute; too well or poorly dressed. No one is
too whatever. Everyone is a potential shoplifter — on both sides of your counter.
Listen to Ben Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Here Are Some Shoplifting Tips of which to Be Aware:
- Notice late and loud shoppers. It’s almost closing time when a customer
begins shouting at one of your sales people. The entire store focuses on the commotion
while another customer steals your merchandise and walks out the door.
- Pay special attention to “hot” merchandise categories. Teenagers tend to
steal things that they either can’t afford or are prohibited from buying, such as
recorded music, cosmetics, stylish apparel, tobacco products and consumer electronics.
- Watch everyone — not just “the usual suspects.” A majority of shoplifters
are adults. However, juveniles are a disproportionate percentage of shoplifters as
compared to their representation in the U.S. population. Teenagers between the
ages of 13-17 represented 25 percent of all shoplifters, the largest single age group
of shoplifters. Males accounted for 43 percent of the shoplifters reported, 34 percent
were female, and gender data was not included for 23 percent of the cases.
There is no profile of a typical shoplifter. Men and women shoplift about equally
as often.
- Your store is not immune to shoplifters!
- Many shoplifters buy and steal merchandise in the same visit. Watch anyone
who buys something and then continues to walk through the store holding
your shopping bag.
- Shoplifting is often not a premeditated crime. Seventy-three percent of
adults and 72 percent of juvenile shoplifters don’t plan to steal in advance.
- Shoplifters say they are caught an average of only once in every 50 times
they steal.
- Shoplifters are turned over to the police 50 percent of the time.
- Approximately 3 percent of shoplifters are “professionals.” That is, they
steal solely for resale of the goods for profit. “Professional” shoplifters are responsible
for 10 percent of the total dollar losses.
- Most shoplifters (about 41 percent) were recorded
as Caucasian, while African Americans accounted for
about 29 percent, Hispanics about 44 percent and
Asian Americans about 1 percent.
- Almost 18 percent of all reported apprehensions
took place on Saturday. About 15.4 percent occurred
on Friday, and the other five days ranged between 13
and 13.6 percent. This indicates that thefts take place
anytime, with “amateur hour” occurring on the weekends.
- Less than 1 percent of the apprehensions occurred
between midnight and 6 a.m. Only 9 percent occurred
between 6 a.m. and noon. About 55 percent of the theft
apprehensions took place between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.,
with about 32.5 percent occurring between 2 and 6 p.m.
Your staff is the first line of defense against shoplifting.
Reinforce to understand that their first priority is
the customer. They should avoid socializing among
themselves or being so involved in stocking merchandise
they become unaware of their surroundings.
Train your staff to routinely make eye contact with
customers entering your store, and offer to help them.
This tells potential shoplifters that your sales staff is
watching them. The more obviously your staff is paying
attention to customers, the less attractive your store will
be to shoplifters.
Many shoplifters, especially young people and professional
shoplifters often work in teams. They create distractions
while a different member of the group steals
from another area of your store. Shoplifters generally
like to visit stores when staff and customer counts are
low — perhaps lunch time or just before closing. They
often use shopping bags, umbrellas, large purses, baggy
clothes, strollers and other items that can be used as
containers for their stolen goods.
Take shoplifting seriously. Do not let the shoplifter
walk away or listen to a thief’s tale of woe. Most professional
shoplifters will give you a heart breaking story
and then claim it was their first time. Both are lies.
Here Are Some Other Tips:
- Clearly post signs throughout your store that shoplifters will be prosecuted.
- Place your register area on a six to eight inch platform
for a better view of your store.
- Arrange all aisles so they are clearly visible from the
registers.
- Keep displays away from doors and exits. If necessary,
put them in large plastic cases.
- Place small, easily concealed items in locked displays.
- Keep displays neat and label shelves so you can see
if anything is missing.
- Work schedules should be arranged so the sales
floor is covered at all times, preferably by more than one
person.
- Educate employees about store prices to avoid
price switching.
- Use multiple hidden price tags or labels.
- Use preprinted price tags.
- Staple customer receipts to the outside of their packages.
- Place electronic tags on merchandise.
- Emphasize to cashiers that they must diligently
remove or deactivate electronic tags to avoid unpleasant
confrontations and explanations.
Conduct frequent and informative review sessions
on detecting shoplifting. Train your staff to:
- Check the seals on boxed items to be sure the contents
match the box.
- Watch for tag switching.
- Be attentive to customers who frequently shop
during hours when staff is low, as well as customers who
wander into restricted areas, or loiter near the storage
areas.
- Be alert when a customer asks you to check the
storage room for an item.
- Watch customers who carry merchandise into
remote areas of the store. Watch customers who use the
store’s lavatory.
Employees can be thieves, too. A major study of
shoplifting crimes shows that as much as half of a store’s
inventory shrinkage can come from employee theft.
Another 15 percent can happen due to administrative
error — such as overpaying a bill or not keeping good
inventory records. Close to 6 percent of your store’s
inventory shrinkage may happen because of vendor
fraud — the vendor short shipped you but billed you for
the entire order.
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