Mr X a retailer running a large gift item store in Lucknow was in for a rude shock. After operating a new store in the upmarket Mall discovered a great mismatch in the inventory levels. Almost one month of stock value was missing from the store. On closely looking at the CCTV footage he found gloss shoplifting was happening in his store. This led to a huge loss to his profitability & revenue
This is common story across the Industry like Apparels stores, convenience stores, Supermarkets & hypermarkets, Small Kirana Stores, Medicine shops, Electronics shops etc. Why is this happening?
- Store Design: More stores are becoming displaying the merchandise in the open. Gone are the days of ‘behind the counter sales. Display of open merchandise attars a lot of customers
- Customer buying behaviour: Customers prefer an environment to shop at their own will without being disturbed from the salesperson.
- Packaging: packaging of the products is getting more compact which is tempting & easy for the shop lifters
Solution
There are various solutions availe to protect your merchandise. Retailers used CCTV cameras initially, but it didn’t reduce the shoplifting as it was post theft action. The store discovers the theft much later then the incident
EAS Anti-Theft Antennas are the upcoming solution for stopping shoplifting. It’s a very easy & convenient way to reduce the shrinkage. Simply by putting tags on your merchandise and securing the entrance with EAS antennas, you can secure your merchandise completely.
The gate designs have improved a lot with slim design & glass finish, the gates merge into the retail environment. The tags also are available of various sizes & help secure merchandise of all sizes
So, as a retailer don’t let your profits disappear with your shoplift merchandise. Go and secure the same at a fraction of the cost & focus on increasing on sales rather than the shoplifters
Nikhil Chhabra, Exe Director Technology, Entasis Technology pvt Ltd.