Retailers didn’t need a survey to know incidents of theft are up and continue to rise. Whether that theft is from organized crime rings or an inside job, the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) National Retail Security Survey predicts that theft will continue to persist in the year ahead.
NRF, which has conducted its Security Survey for 32 years, takes a deep dive into the numbers to capture data about risks, threats and vulnerabilities from the previous fiscal year and their forward-looking priorities. The survey can be used as a guide for retailers to deal with theft threats, both internal and external.
Loss prevention in retail is becoming more challenging as the economy stumbles. To keep costs down, it is important to put measures into place that will deter thieves. But, loss prevention is often overlooked by convenience stores, even when following through on upholding policies could mean big bucks for their bottom lines.
To tackle loss, c-stores need to look at the issue from all sides, from the people they hire to how they train employees and from the policies they put in place to how they are enforced.
“While theft has an undeniable impact on retailer margins and profitability, retailers are highly concerned about the heightened levels of violence and threat of violence associated with theft and crime,” the NRF report said. “Retailers’ top priority remains providing a safe workplace for associates and a safe shopping experience for customers.”
Of those reported to NRF, 88% of retailers noted that shoplifters are somewhat more or much more aggressive and violent compared with one year ago. Those who specifically track the number of violent shoplifting incidents reported that they saw their number of shoplifting events involving violence increase by over one-third (35%) on average.
Despite these ongoing efforts, many retailers, especially convenience stores and drug stores, have been forced to take more drastic action, including reducing operating hours in some locations (45%), reducing/altering the availability of products in stores (30%) or even closing some locations (28%).
A strong majority of retailers agreed that shoplifters overall are more aggressive and violent than a year ago. More than half of respondents reported an increase among the most serious offenses involving violence, such as guest-on-associate violence, violence involving a weapon and violence during a shoplifting event.
Employee theft is just as concerning for retailers as other forms of theft. Employees have more access to merchandise and monies, more control over security measures and processes and opportunities not available to outsiders. An employee who decides to steal or collude with outsiders to steal often does so at a higher loss per incident than
external thieves.
Particularly over the past several years, retailers have increased their use of technologies to deter, detect and investigate internal theft. Increased training, awareness and proactive efforts to educate employees about theft have positively impacted the overall losses due to employee theft.
Even though external theft has surpassed internal theft as the largest contributor to overall retail loss, it remains the second largest contributor of loss, and its prevention must be a key part of a retailer’s asset protection program.
Retail Security Measures
C-store chains that are most successful in preventing loss of all kinds take ownership at the top of the organization, understand the value of good risk management practices, accountability, training and education, and use that as a framework that encompasses all their locations.
C-store chains that fall short of preventing loss are more likely to need a consistent security program. The best protection against external theft is merchandising stores properly, upgrading surveillance systems and doing due diligence when implementing new software or security systems — including speaking with other retailers on how effective the equipment has been for them. Policies for dealing with shoplifting are also crucial in minimizing loss.
Loss prevention focuses on implementing measures to detect, deter, prevent or mitigate loss. To prevent theft and loss today, retailers utilize longtime proven measures while investing in innovative, cutting-edge technology for future prevention.
The current landscape of loss prevention has required many retailers to implement or increase several security measures quickly. When asked about resource allocation to address today’s risks, several NRF respondents maintained the same internal payroll (42%), allocating more resources in other areas to address theft risk. Meanwhile, one-third (34%) of respondents have increased payroll to support their risk efforts, and 45% have increased the use of third-party security personnel as a measure of prevention.
Respondents are also allocating funds toward technology and software solutions; 52% have increased that allocation over the past year, and 48% have increased capital allocation for additional security equipment.
There’s also increased emphasis on employee workplace violence training. As violence is one of the most concerning risks, 53% of respondents have increased or are increasing their training in this area.
Whatever your strategy, make sure you examine the potential threats and address them individually. Ignoring any internal or external threat will cause more problems and cost you far more in the long run.
Elie Y. Katz is the CEO and president of National Retail Solutions (NRS).
