Advice for retailers from Neil Matthews, Vice President of Checkpoint Systems NCE.
With the credit crunch biting, high street spending is at an all-time low. Consumers are constantly on the look out for ways to rein in their spending and cut back on budgets.
While the majority of people do this by a process of re-evaluation, there is a proportion of the population that takes to underhand means to cope with the changing retail market.
And that’s why, during times of economic crisis, shoplifting figures can rise dramatically.
Last month, it was reported that a haul of cheese valued at around £15,000 had been stolen from a parked lorry in Hereford. Even though it isn’t a retail environment per se, the very nature of the incident certainly suggests that people are more desperate than ever before to get their hands on consumables during these tough economic times.
Nevertheless, even the most cynical commentators were surprised by the crime. Surely it hasn’t come to this already?
The media had only been focussing on the so-called recession for the last couple of months, giving thieves just a short period of time to prepare their strategy.
But desperate times call for desperate measures and now it’s not simply the professionals that we’re interested in. Stress does strange things to people and more often than not, it is the most ‘unusual suspects’ that come out as the villains.
Strange as it may seem, it’s not entirely surprising. Consumers with families to feed are often the culprits and the most basic dietary staples, the victims. Even basic foods such as eggs, bread and milk are expensive these days and more recently have fallen into unscrupulous hands.
So, for many consumers living through these challenging times, buying these products legitimately every week is simply out of the question.
But what can be done to resolve this?
Of course, it is morally unacceptable, but no amount of preaching will convince cash-strapped consumers that there are alternative routes to take. So it is up to the retailers to make it as difficult as possible for them to actually get their hands on the goods.
Historically, however, retailers have reduced their loss prevention budgets during economic slowdowns, deeming it an unnecessary expense that will reap little reward.
But on this occasion, those considering cutting their budgets to save money really should think twice. With incidences of shoplifting already on the up, savings achieved through cutting the loss prevention budget can be quickly surpassed by the cost of this increased theft.
One method of protection that does not involve negatively affecting a product’s appearance is source tagging.
Source tagging protects products by applying an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) label during the manufacturing process. The security label is integrated directly into the labelling or packaging during manufacture meaning the product arrives in-store already security protected.
A tried and tested, cost -effective security technique, source tagging relieves the burden of theft protection from the already busy shop floor staff, who after all, are there primarily to get the tills ringing.
In addition to source tagging, there are a number of other solutions on the market to effectively protect products from thieves during these tough times – shop floor supervision by security guards, CCTV and clear glass cabinets to name a few – but none are as effective or as convenient as source tagging.
But if technology is used to its full potential and integrated with back office systems, retailers could save themselves thousands of pounds. A committed approach is therefore essential to ensure shoplifting statistics do not overtake sales figures.
