Eight Suggestions for Retail Control of Shrink and Loss Prevention

Once the holiday season begins, the retailers begin stocking their shelves. They also begin hiring additional assistance, but while doing this that also must think about operations errors and chances of fraud which may take out a significant chunk from their own profits. Following are some of the ideas by which a reduction of dollars could be prevented:

1. It’s true that temporary associates are hired from the merchants once the holiday season is on for handling the excess demand. It’s significant to see that these associates aren’t committed or faithful to the business.

Additionally, there are increased chances of making costly mistakes, maybe unknowingly. By way of instance, they may scan the promotional coupons or don’t adhere to the return policies. This may have an effect on the company. To avoid this, it’s crucial that temporary employees is trained correctly.

2. Retailers also offer coupons to their customers during the holiday seasons and this also increases the odds of coupon frauds.

This can cost the customers and merchants a whopping amount. This may be prevented by training the workers to search for such a high dollar and free coupons. Many times, the coupons may also be counterfeit.

3. Oftentimes, there may be problems because of cloned credit cards.

To avoid such a circumstance, the last 4 digits of the card could be matched with the previous 4 on the receipt each time a high number of gift cards are purchased. Additionally, the credit card should not be entered into the system manually. The employees must be conscious of such practices.

4. It’s extremely important to be aware that the abuse costs and return fraud faced by the retail sector have been estimated to about $10 billion-$15 billion annually.

This loss majorly happens when the holiday season is at its peak. The refund policy must be bolstered by the retail supervisors with cashiers so that they can listen to those clients who return valuable products without receipts.

5. A substantial increase in organized retail crime is observed throughout the holiday season.

To prevent this, the cashiers have to be appropriately trained for scanning each and every item carefully and this also assists in ensuring precise inventory for the small business.

6. An individual must also pay a whole lot of attention to hidden items that might have been concealed in the cart.

A few of the things which are usually concealed are makeup products, DVDs and OTC medications. It’s important to make certain that the customers rung each and every item in their cart. Every thing must be entered properly in the listing to get a proper invoice.

7. High-value products such as DVD players and televisions will need to be protected as they’re also vulnerable to being stolen when the holiday season is happening and the rush of their customers is too large.

It’s necessary that”grab and go” type of shoplifting is controlled.

8. Lastly, it’s necessary that SCO or self-evident area is also cared for as many occasions, losses may also occur in this counter.

“Four elements are necessary for a successful loss prevention strategy:

1) Total support from top management

2) A positive employee attitude

3) Maximum utilization of available resources

4) A system that establishes both responsibility and accountability for loss prevention through tests that are consistent and innovative.”