Retail Loss Prevention: 3 Solutions to Protect Your Business

Retail loss prevention has always been a challenge, and it only seems to be getting worse. According to the National Retail Federation, the U.S retail economy lost $48.9 billion in 2016. That’s up more than $3 billion from the year before.  If you’re not vigilant in reducing shrinkage and improving your store’s security, you should be. To help you do that, we’ve put together a list of 3 solutions to help protect your business.

1. Point-of-Sale (POS) System

First, start with help from your POS software, especially when it comes to employee accountability.

  • Blind Drops – When closing out a cash drawer at the end of a shift, it is important to require employees to claim the amount of cash that is in the drawer before being able to run a report of the in drawer total cash. This is called a “Blind Drop”. This is the first line of defense for employees that could start to pocket money when the drawer is over.

 

  • Enforcing Cash Drawer Closure – There are many methods of cash theft by cashiers that are rectified by simply enforcing that the cash drawer is closed before the next transaction is started.

 

  • Manager Permissions for No-Sale Functions – No-Sale is a function on the point of sale or cash register that will open the cash drawer without actually performing a transaction. A manager’s permission should always be required for this function as any time you allow employees to get into the drawer without actually completing a transaction you are asking for trouble.

 

  • Inventory Tracking – This keeps employees accountable for merchandise within the store. Additionally, poor stock control leads to misplaced products and unchecked discrepancies.

 

  • Good Reporting and Analytics – If you have many cashiers being able to compare cashier performance for metrics of theft is very important. You might want to track the quantity of dollar value of discounts, the number of times a transaction was cancelled or voided, or you may simply want to compare the how many dollars in cash sales as a percentage of the whole. Your system should have good reporting and analytics to give you the data you need to manage cashiers.

 

  • Audit Logs – This feature allows you to see every transaction detail so you can see who is giving more discounts, making more mistakes, etc.

 

  • Employee Security Levels – Give appropriate access only to areas that are necessary for employees to perform their job properly.

 

Read other ways to Stop Employee Theft With Your POS System.

2. Surveillance Cameras

Monitor your store’s activity 24/7 by installing surveillance cameras that integrate into your POS. A popular feature for a security camera system is POS data capture. Once installed, anything that is rung up in the register has the corresponding receipt information displayed and recorded right over top of your camera’s video that is watching the register.

Another thing surveillance cameras help with is traffic flow. You can monitor how people move through your store and make it to the check-out line or the front door with stolen merchandise. You can make appropriate changes to your store’s design flow to increase sales instead of losing sales through shrinkage.

3. Signs/Mirrors

Deter shoplifters with anti-theft signs and mirrors. It’s a great retail loss prevention alternative if you can’t afford surveillance cameras. Also, let people know that shoplifting will not be tolerated, and prosecution will happen.

What ways are you working toward better retail loss prevention in your store? Have questions about how a Bepoz POS system might work for your retail business? Give us a call to set up your free demo today.