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Getting Smarter About Retail Shrink
Last week, I wrote a column about some pretty damning stats coming out of the 2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer for our Innovative Retail Technologies NextLP newsletter. In sum, I pointed out that U.S. retail shrink hit a record high this year, and that according to the report we’re the worst offender on the planet. I also posited that as a global retail tech leader, we ought to be getting better, not worse.
As we approach Black Friday, we’re all eagerly anticipating customer traffic and ringing registers—but there’s a dark side to the influx of holiday shoppers. November and December might bring with them the highest sales of the year, but all that traffic also results in the highest rate of theft. The Barometer found that 46 percent of U.S. retailers’ yearly losses occur during the winter months. All that merchandise walking out of your stores at such an alarming rate—and while you’re busy ringing sales—won’t likely be recognized and accounted for until January. That’s if it’s identified and reconciled at all.
Traditional EAS (electronic article surveillance) tags have done a couple of things well. They’re a proven theft deterrent, and when criminals are brazen enough to bolt through the corrals with a tagged item, they’re generally do a good job of sounding the alarm. Once that merchandise is out the door, however, yesterday’s EAS tags served no purpose to those responsible for reconciling that which was lost. Nor did they offer any insight to why it was stolen or who made off with it.
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Source: http://mobilemarketingandtechnology.com/2015/11/19/getting-smarter-about-retail-shrink/
