5 Tips for Retail Loss Prevention during this Holiday Season
 

With the holiday season upon us, we would like to see the best in people and spread the spirit of giving. However that does not mean loosening up on retail loss prevention strategies. Retailers have been doing a great job this year tightening up security and revamping their loss prevention methods. With all the data coming in at the store level, the loss prevention teams are able to catch and solve issues before they become significant.

Retail Loss Prevention: What to Review

1) Make sure your promotions are running smoothly and being rung up properly. Nothing is more challenging than keeping all the holiday promotions in check. A good method for checking the accuracy of your promotions is ringing them up ahead of time to test the system. Also take time to run through a trial with employees at a monthly training meeting, as a refresher. It is good to practice this in order to maintain uniformity across your various locations. The goal is to make sure every promotion works properly and that every employee is on the same page, regardless of position or experience level.

2) Make sure employees are trained and equipped to handle large amounts of store traffic. Give your employees the tools and resources needed to make quick fire decisions, and let them know that they have the power to make decisions on their own. Make sure that everyone is up to date on policies and they know exactly who to contact in case an issue occurs. Trained employees are more likely to do their job properly, and they are also more comfortable making decisions. Having employees that know how to handle the holiday foot traffic will greatly improve your operations.

3) With the increasing amounts of traffic it is important to be properly stocked and have displays updated in a timely manner. Make sure inventory levels are accurate, and keep a record of traffic down times. Why would you want to keep a record of your down times? Because these may be the best times to restock. You don’t want the increased foot traffic in your store to go to waste, and restocking during busy hours may do just that. When restocking is done make sure it is quick and efficient. Another thing to consider is the use of smart shelves, which let you know how fast your selves are emptying so you can make sure they are never completely bare. Remember, you want your customers to have easy access to the things they want.

4) Properly staff your stores during the holidays. This one may seem obvious, but there are some important things to remember. Increase the amount of on-duty staff, and consider scheduling a reserve of on-call staff as well. This not only acts as a precaution in case of a traffic influx, but it will also be helpful if the weather conditions suddenly get harsh. The holiday season not only brings large crowds, it brings bad weather and an increase in sick days from employees. Make sure your staff is aware of extreme weather and sick day protocol and have an open system of communication between employees and managers in case of emergency.

5) Do not spend more time monitoring your data than you have to. It is the holiday season after all, so spend your time on more important matters. Focus on being a physical presence in your stores with your team, and with your family. Let us keep an eye on the data, and who’s been naughty or nice. This way you can worry about enjoying the season and improving the success of your stores. Our big data for retail solution, Retail 20/20 gathers your siloed data and integrates it together to provide you actionable reports in real-time. Not only do we catch operational and systemic issues as they occur, we send alerts to your mobile devices so you don’t have to be tethered to your desk, because who wants to be in their office this time of year?

Contact:
Derek Rodner
VP, Product Strategy
856-366-1200 x500