For many retail businesses, it’s not just the threat of their livelihood that’s at stake; it’s also the threat of lives. While theft has always been a widespread offence, since the recession shoplifting has increased considerably – as well as violence against retail staff, with at least 22,000 retail workers suffering from attacks
Retail shops up and down the high street contain CCTV cameras. But you may not have noticed people walking through the shops or standing by the exit doors. While CCTV cameras are important to make sure nothing bad is happening throughout the store, it isn’t an effective way to stop people from shoplifting. This is why by having a security guard that goes throughout the store is important.
What happens if you don’t stop Shoplifters?
Shoplifting can have a devastating effect on your business’ future. Unfortunately, losses incurred due to people stealing stock are an everyday reality for the majority of retail businesses you see on the high street. By not putting a proper preventative security measure in place, you shop may become a hotspot for thieves. This could result in losses so great that you may even need to close your business or at least struggle to see any profit.
No Training within an Aggressive Situation
Without having a trained security guard within your retail store, you won’t have any staff would be trained to deal with an aggressive situation. For example, this could be violence or an aggravated theft within your store. Without having a security guard, you would have to wait for the police to arrive to provide protection from whats occurring. This will make everyone within your store, e.g. staff and customers, vulnerable. By having a security expert working within your shop, you will have security personnel available immediately should an incident occur.
No Security, More Thefts
Without a retail security guard, it could single your shop out as vulnerable or as an easy hit. Criminals are looking to steal from shops that have very little or less security than other shops. This is so they will be able to get out of the store easily without having the worry of being caught. By having a professional retail security guard could make your shop less of a target when criminals are looking for shops to hit.
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The retail industry is an important part of the UK’s economy, generating entire sales of £321 billion last year, according to a report from the Bristol Retail Consortium. Retail is the largest UK private sector employer, with over 3 million staffs in the industry.
Recently, there have been rising concerns over retail-related crime which continues to impose on the sector, costing millions of pounds each year and restricting its development.
At the start of this year, the BRC released a report following a survey of 30 big and small retailers, which together account for 51% of the whole retail sector in terms of turnover. The results discovered that shoplifting alone amounted to £511 million in losses in 2012-2013. Throughout the same period, the average value of in-store theft raised by 62% to £177, while losses were 166% higher than those recorded just 5 years ago.
Furthermore, during the same stage there were 766,227 offences reported to the BRC by the retailers contributing in the poll, which roughly equates to 2.7 million crimes across the whole sector. Though already worryingly excessive, this figure only accounts for employee theft, customer theft, robbery, burglary, criminal, fraud and criminal damage, so in actual fact the actual number of crime is likely to be considerably higher.
If you own a retail trade, there’s no doubt that security is on the frontage of your mind, especially as crime figures continue to rise. What you want is a setting that is both comfortable and attractive to your customers, but one that is as safe and protected as it possibly can be. Security measures include everything you do to shield yourself, your employees, customers and the store, including your stock. Firstly, what store surveillance do you have? Security mirrors and CCTV cameras are decent anti-theft devices, enabling you to track and monitor people inflowing and leaving your store.
However, CCTV cameras and mirrors alone are not good enough, as many thieves have found ways of avoiding these systems. For added protection, you may want to contemplate hiring retail security staff: from uniformed officers to store detectives, highly trained, skilled personnel on your side will aid to safeguard your store and keep you, your employees and your customers well-protected.
Nowadays, the mainstream of stores use Electronic Article Surveillance tools. This means ‘tagging’ your products and installing a detector system near the entrance of your store, so that an alarm noises if the tag has not been deactivated. EAS technologies can act as a great shoplifting deterrent, mainly if a security guard is present near the store’s exit to check any bags that set off the alarm.
At the end of your working day, you want to lock-up your store safe in the awareness that it’s secure as possibly. A burglar alarm is a vital piece of kit for your store, but you may also want to contemplate specific motion sensor cameras too. You should invest in durable, high-quality locks and a shutter for extra protection.
When it comes to safeguarding your trade business, not just one method will work on its own. By employing a mixture of different security technologies and actions you will provide a safe and comfortable environment for your customers and staff, knowing that your business is well-protected.
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