Is your business vulnerable to retail shrinkage? Loss of product can happen at anytime between the point-of-manufacturing to placement on the store floor.

Learn how you can discourage shoplifting, employee theft, robbery, administrative errors and vendor fraud through smart loss prevention tactics.

How to Assess Risk of Shrinkage

To fully assess your business’ risk, you must first understand the cause of the error, theft or waste. Consider the following:

  • Does my store have prominent signage alerting potential thieves of store monitoring practices?
  • Are expensive items secured in display cabinets or at the back of the store?
  • Are backdoors and storage areas locked when not in use?
  • Is my store free of clutter and designed for high visibility?
  • Are fitting rooms closely monitored?
  • Are registers and transactions closely monitored?
  • Have I trained staff properly on how to spot a shoplifter, and next steps?
  • Do I leverage video surveillance to monitor assets, visitors and employees?
  • Do I use asset-tracking technologies, such as electronic article surveillance (EAS) to minimize shoplifting?
  • Are access control technologies in place to ensure only approved personnel are allowed into restricted areas?
  • Are vendors and employees given security checks prior to employment?
  • Does my employee handbook cover security-related issues?

Answering “no” to any of the above raises vulnerability concerns for your business.

Tips to Manage Security Risks

Should you find your business vulnerable, there are two prongs to managing your risk: employee training and technology implementation.

Employee Training

Employees can be one of your greatest loss prevention assets if trained and nurtured properly. Perform due diligence when hiring to ensure quality talent.

Look for candidates who show dedication and commitment to your company. The less time an employee plans to stay with your business, the less inclined they will be to protect your investment.

Next, educate them on how shrinkage affects the business’ bottom line and their jobs. Also, train them on how to spot unusual activity (whether shoplifting or employee theft), and the protocol for what to do if they see something.

Security Technology Implementation

Today’s security technologies provide robust coverage of your business to effectively manage risk. With the proper infrastructure, you can monitor your store from anywhere at anytime, providing a safe environment for your customers, employees and property. You can also set up alerts and triggers to be notified in real-time of suspicious activity.

For more on setting up a secure retail technology infrastructure, download our free whitepaper.

Image Source: Intel Free Pass via Flickr