Is Your Company Safe?
Do you think your retail business is safe from organized retail crime? If you answered, “Yes”, you might want to think again! In National Retail Federation’s eighth annual Organized Retail Crime Survey, retailers reported that this type of crime is growing in severity, number, and type– becoming more troublesome than ever before.
Of the 125 retail companies surveyed, a record-setting 96% reported that they had been victimized by organized crime in the past year. This is up from 94.5% last year. Also, another 87.7% say that organized retail crime has grown over the past three years.
Why is this happening when at the same time, retailers and law enforcement have become more aware and more proactive in pursuing organized crime gangs? It appears that criminals are becoming more desperate and brazen as well as more violent in their operations. In addition, sophisticated criminals have endless opportunities and outlets to sell their stolen merchandise. Nearly half of the companies surveyed estimate that drugs and drug activity are the catalyst behind the criminal activity.
Trends cited by retailers surveyed include an increase in cargo theft, usually occurring when cargo is en route from a distribution center to the store. Other trends cited include increases in returned stolen merchandise, gift card fraud, and violence shown by criminals upon apprehension. Newer trends include references to digital receipt fraud, increased smash and grab incidents, and collusion with street gangs.
The problems are not easily solved, but some precautions can be put into place to diminish some of these thefts. For example, I’ve noticed in my neighborhood that Safeway stores are using uniformed security guards inside stores during certain P.M. hours and keeping only one door open for customers.
Having an appropriate POS System like CounterPoint will provide you with options like CounterPoint SmartAlerts which will help increase your focus on fraud prevention. This fully-integrated application for your CP software streamlines many retail store operations and instantly identifies possible fraudulent activity. Immediate action can then be taken against alerted activity that could possibly harm your business.
If you’d like more information about CP SmartAlerts, we’re here to answer your questions. Call us at 425-672-4806 or email us.