How to Prevent Shrink

Shrink accounts for millions of dollars of loss to company profits every year. Shrink or the amount of product or "missing deposits" is mostly caused by employees and is also caused by customers who steal from you. Below is are ways to control both.

Internal theft

• Recovered Store ( Helps increase sales and deters theft because the thief knows you're walking the store and are not an easy target.


• Keep an eye on refunds ( Best Practice call customer and check if they actually did a refund)


• Watch Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Daily (ex: openings/closings/refunds/aborted transactions/ are employees taking bags out a night are they letting merchandise out the door for their best friends and family.)


• Keep an eye on your inventory to see if it is building ( causes of inventory build are employee's not scanning merchandise, letting merchandise out the door)


• Always do your pick-ups on a timely manner in order to keep your till levels low so a potential robber doesn't get much if he does decide to rob you.


• Are employee's average basket size below the store's average (Best practice highlight employee's who are below store average, highlight and box if 50 cents or more below store average and and have at least 50 customers


• Are employee's price checking within a transaction again this could be sliding merchandise.


• Train employee's on Bob, Lisa, and Sal ( Bottom of basket, Look inside Aways, and Scan and Look) This will prevent customers from trying to sneak merchandise out the store
• Best Practice- Perform night watches and look for employees taking merchandise out of the store after closing. Do they have a receipt?

External

• Appearance- clothes that are out of season ex: layered and baggy clothes during summer might be usede to conceal merchandise
• Behavior- odd behavior ie looking over shoulder, staying in one section of the store for long periods of time, catching them tucking in shirt

Tips

• Always have at least two people in store at all times preferably 3 or 4 if you can afford it.
• Take two deposits a day in order to keep cash low
• If your finding empty hangers or cartons you are getting ripped off
• Hire the right people (more on this in a future article)