Implementing the right loss prevention strategy for your retail business is as crucial now than it was ever before.
For many retailers, both large and small, inventory shrink continues to affect the bottom line more and more significantly, which unfortunately has led to some businesses having to close their doors.
Ultimately, the answer to this problem lies in proper loss prevention strategies, but the ambiguity of finding the right one for your business has led many retailers down a rabbit hole of asset protection solutions that simply don’t deliver.
Below, we’ll cover some of the best ways to identify the right strategies for your business, but first let’s look at why inventory shrink is such a problem for retailers everywhere.
How Inventory Shrink Impacts Retailers’ Bottom Line
Inventory shrink is the amount of inventory that is lost by a retailer due to external or internal causes, whether that’s theft, merchandise damage, or miscounts.
Inventory shrink is largely unavoidable, at least to some extent. Even the most vigilant shop owners can’t account for every situation where asset loss occurs, but that doesn't mean the margin by which it happens can’t be reduced.
Especially as it relates to theft, there are many different methods retailers can use to mitigate the impact shrink has on their bottom line.
Alongside theft, loss prevention strategies can also benefit other operational areas where inventory shrink may be occurring.
At the end of the day, that means retailers will be increasing the return they get from their sales efforts, all while limiting how much is lost in the process.
Getting the Most out of Your Loss Prevention Strategies
While there are many different methods for strengthening your loss prevention efforts, there are a few strategies that make up the backbone of asset protection.
These strategies include video surveillance, point-of-sale integration, and employee training, all of which we’ll cover below.
1. Video Surveillance
At the top of the list, we have the most fundamental way for bolstering loss prevention: video surveillance.
Having eyes everywhere in your store allows you to deter most internal and external threats to your store’s assets.
Not only can you monitor what’s going on in your store from multiple monitors live, but you can also quickly retrieve footage necessary for any investigations you have going on.
It’s simple but incredibly effective, and when paired with easy cloud-managed access, this loss prevention solution becomes even more powerful.
Combining it with video analytics makes this solution even more versatile, as your security video platform will be able to actively monitor and alert you to areas where you’re needed.
Person and vehicle detection helps keep you updated if someone’s detected in areas they shouldn’t be or if a vehicle is spotted on premises after hours.
The applications of analytics are diverse and versatile, saving you time and money by making video surveillance easier than ever before to use.
2. Point-of-Sale Integration
As we just discussed, video surveillance is a crucial first step in improving any asset protection strategies your business has in the works.
However, when security video is combined with point-of-sale (POS) systems, it becomes an incredibly valuable tool, particularly for retail businesses.
This is because, for both small and large retailers, theft tends to happen at POS systems. For internal theft, employees can easily steal merchandise and cash via registers or by working with outside groups.
When tracking down inventory shrink, POS systems should be the first place to investigate.
Having video to go alongside receipt data is incredibly valuable as well. With just the receipts, it’s hard to know if 5 pieces of inventory left the property when only 1 is recorded.
When paired with video, you can see exactly what’s leaving and why it’s occurring.
A POS integration can also benefit employee training (which we’ll discuss below). While shrink may be occurring due to theft at registers, it could also be due to operational error, which can be just as easily addressed.
3. Proper Employee Training
Finally, training your employees to recognize and report theft/fraud and operate point-of-sale systems properly can eliminate a significant portion of inventory loss.
Not only that, but training employees to safely handle merchandise can help reduce the risk of losing merchandise to any damage that it may undergo.
The two previous solutions are valuable to be sure, but they’re only as successful in their application as the hands you put them in.
Having staff that is equipped with security tools they feel confident in using can help bolster your asset protection strategies significantly and create a team that you can trust.
Learn More About OpenEye’s Loss Prevention Solution
Loss prevention strategies are essential for nearly all retailers nowadays. Luckily, OpenEye has all the tools necessary to equip your team with a comprehensive and easy-to-use cloud-managed video solution.
Our products are designed to help customers streamline operations and reduce the burden on IT, making it easier to manage and maintain video surveillance deployments and integrations of all sizes.
Our trusted cloud-managed video and data platform provides actionable intelligence so you can protect and grow your retail business.
The OpenEye Web Services architecture also simplifies video deployment and management at scale. By combining and analyzing event data with video, OWS delivers insights that enhance security and increase your bottom line.
If your business is in need of a complete asset protection solution, talk to us!
We’d love to see how OpenEye can help your company take advantage of our powerful cloud-managed video solution.