Saturday, November 23, 2013

Help For Small Business Owners: Loss Prevention Tips

By Mark Mahaffey


If you are the owner of your business, then you are likely familiar with the threat of shoplifting. But are you aware of how much money is lost in businesses each year due to shoplifting? That figure may be as high as twenty five million dollars! This sends a clear message to business owners!

And that message is to take loss prevention seriously. For starters, a business owner should know about the common characteristics that shoplifters have in common. Take time to study these traits, so that you will be better prepared to control shoplifting in your own store.

For instance, crooks in your business who are considering shoplifting can act in specific ways. You may notice that they look like they have guilt. If you watch them closely, you may notice that they pick items up and put them back down, almost without seeming to be thinking about what they are doing.

You may also notice someone making repeated trips inside your store. Sometimes, thieves will come in often, so that they can get a good look at your store, get to know the habits and patterns of employees and decide on the best plan to take when they are ready to do their shoplifting.

There are also practical things you can do to reduce shoplifting. Do you have a place in your store where people can try on clothes before deciding to buy them? If so, you may be suffering loss as people steal from you while in these changing rooms.

Try this: buy some tags with different numbers on them. Hire an employee to work the dressing room, assigning each customer who wants to try on clothes a number that corresponds to the number of items she wants to try on. When the customer leaves the changing area, count the items to make sure it matches the number on the tag.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment