As a business owner or manager, it’s hard to think of two words that make you feel more vulnerable or powerless. Unfortunately, by the time you have to shout these words, it is already too late!
According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP), more than $13 billion worth of goods are stolen from retailers every year. That is more than $35 million per day! That means that those hot, new designer frames on your board are prime targets for thieves.
What can you do to stop these bandits from making off with your livelihood? First, get rid of the image you have in your mind of what a shoplifter looks like. There is no profile for a shoplifter. Shoplifters can be men or women, young or old. Shoplifting is usually a crime of opportunity, done for the thrill, not a planned event. Second, stay with your customers! Make sure there is someone observing your sales floor all the time. Most shoplifters will not steal if they are being watched. This will stop approximately 95% of all shoplifters.
The other 5% can be classified as professional shoplifters. These thieves steal for the resale value of the merchandise they take. Professionals will usually have a plan of attack and may use accomplices to divert your attention from the theft. This is where additional security measures will come into play.
There are many high and low-tech methods for protecting your business. As mentioned before, the simplest way to prevent theft is to have an observant staff. Other forms of security include locking displays, cameras, and security tag/sensor systems. These are the methods we will cover here.
Locking displays can range from a glass front cabinet all the way to custom made towers with individual locks for each frame location. Most of us in optical retail tend to shy away from locking our frames up. The same security that prevents a frame from being stolen also prevents your patients from trying on the frame. This again leads back to the need for an attentive sales staff. If an employee is readily available to unlock the display for a customer, sales will increase and theft will decrease.
It just doesn’t make sense to lock up all the frames in your dispensary. The cost of purchasing locking display cases to store your budget or closeout frames will be much greater than the profit you will make selling them. It is recommended to choose a price point, either retail or wholesale, and locking up any frames at or above that point.
The cost of locking frame displays can range from around $300 for a simple glass display case to $2,500 and beyond for custom-made wood and glass frame displays. Obviously you will need to choose what works best for your business.
The next item we will cover is security cameras. Cameras come in an almost unlimited variety. You can choose from traditional wall mounted cameras or ceiling mounted dome cameras. Most cameras will send a live feed to a TV somewhere on the premises, usually at the front desk or manager’s office. These work well for direct surveillance of an area, but are most effective when paired with either a VCR or DVR. You should choose your cameras carefully. Some will take an image every 1-2 seconds, which is best for systems recording to tape. Others will send a live stream to the recording device. Streaming cameras work best when paired with a DVR (digital video recorder) or hard drive. You may also be able to monitor the cameras over the internet for those times when you cannot be in the office.
Regardless of which type of camera or recording device you choose, make sure that the cameras cover the entire sales floor and any adjacent hallways. This prevents the thief from taking merchandise off camera to hide. For additional coverage, you may choose to add an outdoor camera to cover the parking lot. That way, if someone does make off with a frame, you have a chance of getting a license plate.
If a full camera system is not in the budget, you can still benefit from the deterrent power of dummy cameras. Dummy or fake cameras are actual camera housings without the camera ‘guts’ inside. Most dummy cameras will have a battery powered LED to add to the realism, while others will have an automatic pan feature to cover a wider area. For those offices where theft is not a major issue, a few well-placed dummy cameras will help to keep most people honest.
The cost of security camera systems can vary greatly, depending on the features needed. Dummy cameras can be as little as $15-$20 each, while a full wi-fi camera system with infrared capability and 500GB hard drive can cost over $10,000. Adding security cameras to your office will also help deter internal theft. An employee is much less likely to steal from the business when they know they are being watched!
The final product we will discuss here is the security tag/sensor systems. You have seen these systems in nearly every type of shop, from the big chain discount stores to your local record store. These systems use special tags affixed to merchandise that set off an alarm when passed by a sensor loop. This loop can be the traditional figure-8 shaped stand you usually see on either side of an entrance or can be built into an existing doorframe.
The tags used by these systems can either be affixed directly to the frame or used in conjunction with rip-resistant Mylar labels. With sensor type systems, it is necessary to also purchase a tag de-activator. This prevents the alarm from going off every time the trash is taken out or when you ship a frame to the lab.
New innovations in RFID (radio frequency identification) have improved the sensor systems and allow for each individual frame to be coded with a unique ID. This makes inventory management much easier. By simply passing a hand-held scanner within a few inches of each frame, the computer can take an accurate inventory in a matter of minutes and alert you to any missing frames.
While sensor systems are the most expensive option, ranging from $2,000 for a basic system to well over $15,000 for a full RFID system, they are also the most effective way to stop shoplifters with a minimum of employee involvement.
Any steps that are taken to prevent theft must be coupled with increased employee training. The best theft deterrent, by far, is exceptional customer service. By being constantly attentive to your customer’s needs, you will not give a thief the chance he needs to steal from you and he will then seek out an easier target elsewhere.
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