When you reduce theft in your business, you maximize profits. And while reducing theft is a common goal, protecting your business from theft is not an easy feat. There are numerous tips and tricks to reduce theft. But there are only two retail loss prevention tips you need to heed:
- Invest in loss prevention technology
- Invest in your employees
According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, theft and other forms of retail fraud resulted in a $46.8 billion-dollar loss for retailers.
Business profits are drained through shoplifting, fraudulent returns, and employee theft. This leaves thousands of companies scrambling to cover their losses, ultimately resulting in many of them closing down.
Retail Loss Prevention Tips
A simple Google search will provide hundreds of retail loss prevention tips, from the standard to the outright weird.
But there are really only two strategies you need to eliminate theft and increase profits.
Invest in Loss Prevention Technology
The most basic investments in loss prevention technology include video surveillance, POS integration and reports, and someone to review data. But loss prevention technology can provide so much more.
Hours of video surveillance and reams of exception reports from your point-of-sale (POS) system won’t stop theft alone. But by pairing the two with the right technology, within minutes, you can find employee theft at the register, identify fraudulent returns, or use Smart Search to monitor a high-theft area within your store.
DIGIOP offers a comprehensive loss prevention system, from video surveillance cameras to ELEMENTS, a foundational video management system, to DIGIOP CARBON, a powerful business intelligence dashboard. By pairing video with data, you can uncover theft quickly and easily.
ELEMENTS manages and stores all your video and reports, giving you trending data as well as real-time access. DIGIOP CARBON processes reports and queries immediately, offering custom built reviews in seconds, rapid review of flagged video, and case management tools.
If your business wants to get ahead of criminals and internal theft, you need the technology to do so.
Invest in your Employees
Equally importantly to technology investment, smart businesses invest in their employees. Employees are the backbone of every company and without them, you cannot serve your customers effectively.
But employees are often the primary source of theft due to their ability to easily access goods and money from cash registers.
It is important to hire well and train even better. Be vigilant in your hiring practices. Conduct background checks, be clear in your expectations and procedures, and communicate company goals often.
Training should be standardized, setting the consistent expectation from your cashiers, sales staff, and managers. Every customer should expect the same high standard of customer service from every team member.
Rather than just use video surveillance to catch theft and loss, consider using technology to “catch” acts of excellence. Recognize and reward good customer service.
Essential Retail Loss Prevention Tips
Eliminating theft and driving down loss is required to run a profitable business. Relying on best practices for retail loss prevention tips the balance in your favor. Focus on loss prevention technology to support your valuable employees and you will succeed in business.