5 Ways To Prevent Holiday Shoplifting

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Prevent Business Shoplifting
Tony Gallo | Sapphire Risk Advisory Group
Tony Gallo | Sapphire Risk Advisory Group

The holiday season is here! Of course, we all know this is the busiest time of the year for retailers. Unfortunately, as revenue increases over the season, so do losses! The hustle and bustle of holiday chaos is the perfect atmosphere for potential shoplifting.

Here’s what you can do to deter shoplifting in your store this holiday season:

1. Train your employees on various holiday transactions.

Gift card purchases and sale discounts make for a more complex operation, and these purchases are more common during the holidays. Train your employees on how to take care of these swiftly, so that they can spend less time distracted, and more time on the sales floor or speeding up the line.

2. Emphasize store organization and cleanliness.

A messy store is more attractive to shoplifters, as it implies there are not enough employees to pay attention to the sales floor. Require staff to remove loose items from the sales floor to prevent loss of items when busy.

3. Stress customer service and engagement.

Train employees to stay on the sales floor as often as they can. Engaging with customers, greeting customers as they enter, and being there to provide excellent customer service is one of the best ways to deter shoplifting. Shoplifters hate attention, which allows you to spoil your customers while preventing sticky fingers.

4. Train employees to check the merchandise they ring up.

Employees should check containers, packages, and other merchandise that could be used to conceal stolen items at the point of sale.

5.Train employees on proper procedures for handling shoplifting.

Tell employees never to accuse, chase, or place their hands on a shoplifter. Additionally, let your employees know of any specific guidelines your company has for apprehending shoplifters.

Check your cameras and recordings prior to the holiday season. This will allow time to have the surveillance system serviced and fully operational prior to the busy season.

Happy Holidays!

Arrested Shoplifter

Tony Gallo is a licensed security consultant and Managing Partner for Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, named one of the Top 100 ancillary companies in the cannabis industry. Tony has more than 30 years of retail experience in the Loss Prevention, Audit, Safety, and Risk/Emergency Management fields. He is considered one of the leading authorities in cannabis security, armed robberies and burglary investigations.  Tony is a published author on cannabis security designs and over the last seven years has spoken at numerous cannabis business conferences across the country.