How are You using Your Retail Security System? Amplifying Versus Protecting Assets
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Is your security “bad guy” focused? For many years, most retail establishments saw retail security systems purely from the perspective of catching theft, shoplifting and employee theft. Loss prevention certainly is an important part of any retail security system, but commercial security technologies also offer far more capabilities and potential to your business. If your security is hyper-focused on malicious activities, then you are missing out on huge advantages.
Protecting Assets Using Retail Security Technology
The 2016 National Retail Security Survey revealed that retailers’ inventory shrink averaged 1.38 percent of retail sales, or $45.2 billion in 2015, up by $1.2 billion from 2014. According to the report, retailers reported increases in overall inventory shrink with shoplifting accounting for the greatest cause of loss at $377 per incident average, up by $60 from the prior year.
How can this be with retailers using the most advanced technologies? NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention, Bob Moraca said “LP professionals have been working diligently to find advancements in technology aimed at deterring crime in our industry, sometimes even before it happens—but as our techniques get more sophisticated, so too do the criminals.”
So, what is a business to do? Even with the tough job of combating savvy criminals, loss prevention technologies such as video surveillance and access control continue to be your best tool. It is important to stay informed of the latest technologies and evaluate what technologies are relevant and helpful to you. It is also important to leverage those technologies in new, and differently focused ways.
Amplifying Assets with Retail Security Technology
To truly amplify assets, companies must look beyond theft reduction when they think of retail security technologies and think about how these systems can add economic value to every facet of the company, whether it is liability, safety, productivity, consumer analytics, data mining and more.
When you move from a loss prevention singlemindedness, you make your security system investment even more valuable. Here are just a few of the asset amplifying insights you can gain:
- Know what departments open on time or close early
- Gain awareness of customer pain points, such as long wait times
- Identify workflow issues
- When customer volume increases, you can respond appropriately by opening more registers ahead of need
- Follow in-stock position and notify vendors when stock is low
- Identify when products are displayed in a less than optimum position
- Identify which items should be pulled from one store and placed in another
Security technology is about much more than protecting assets. It is also about increasing value. Security Instrument Corp., is Delaware’s largest full-service independently owned security company, serving thousands of retail and commercial clients throughout Delaware, MD, NJ, and PA, and dedicated to providing systems that not only protect, but also add value.
