While every business wants increased customer presence in their stores, shoplifting is something that every business owner must consider when opening for business. Shoplifters steal during the day, in plain sight and often while staff is busy helping other customers or targeting areas not highly visible in the store. In order to reduce the potential for shoplifting, here are some important steps every business owner should take.
Deploy Advanced Surveillance Systems
Advanced Surveillance is a must. Utilizing high-definition cameras and video surveillance can help security keep an eye on the entire store at once, but the simple presence of cameras can be discouraging for shoplifters looking to make a quick and easy grab. Additionally, surveillance can speed up identification and apprehension of thieves. In addition to providing surveillance, hiring professionals who specialize in security services and professional monitoring will allow you to create a security team of sorts who can monitor activities and quickly deploy proper first responders when necessary.
Train Staff on Security Protocols
Make sure all staff are trained on security protocols. This is incredibly important for loss preventions, but it will also make sure your staff knows what steps to take to ensure their own personal safety in a variety of situations. Having plenty of staff, walking the store and being present can also go a long way to reduce the temptation to shoplift.
Install Anti-Theft Devices
Finally, installing anti-theft devices on expensive and/or the most tempting merchandise as well as optimizing store layout will help reduce theft. Create a well-planned store layout, reducing blind spots and grouping merchandise strategically while attaching visible security tags so staff and cameras can easily pick up suspicious activity. Security tags not only make noise when someone tries to exit the store, but they are also difficult to get off clothing/items and make it less attractive to steal.
Business owners put a lot of time and effort into carefully planning, building, staffing and stocking their stores and unfortunately, no one is immune to theft. By implementing these suggestions, however, you make shoplifting more difficult for those looking for some easy merchandise to grab.