Questions and Answers from Mike Keenan, TAL Global’s Managing Director of Retail Loss Prevention, About Retail Crime Prevention.
Mike, what does it mean when retailers say they are being impacted by organized crime? Is that the mafia?
Organized retail crime is not the mafia. Still, it operates in a highly organized way, and it differentiates itself from your casual opportunistic shoplifter because these people plan it out. They have teams, and they have equipment. They can sell the product that they steal. So, it is a concerted effort by many groups focusing on all types of merchandise within retailers.
I know you have worked with many major retailers. What is the first thing you analyze when you begin your work?
The safety of store employees and the store’s customers. This should always be a retailer’s top priority. The retailer must prioritize safety because an incident of violence in a store could cause not only harm to many individuals but result in a loss of sales, employee morale, and the store’s reputation.
What can retailers do now to protect themselves from theft?
The first thing they can and should do now is implement strategies to deter external theft, including technology. It’s essential to ensure that you have equipment like CCTV and deterrent devices like EAS (electronic article surveillance) when putting tags on products, locking the store, and securing high-value products.
The second thing is to be proactive. This is crucial now – now more than ever.
As to internal theft, are stores increasing the supervision of the staff?
Yes. More use closed-circuit TV and camera systems to monitor their employees even when they are not working but in the store. Managers don’t want to be Big Brother. Still, by creating an extension of their leadership through technology, they can maintain worker productivity and deter internal theft even when you’re not there.
How can retailers find out more strategies to prevent crime in the retail environment?
I’m having a free webinar on this topic later this month. Here are the details:
It will be held on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 11 AM Pacific Time, 2 PM Eastern (US and Canada)
It will be a helpful and very educational webinar for retailers and those in other industries as well.
To register, click here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MY6jt6B2RdyuQlL9wcE1lg
