Prevent theft and boost sales
Many retailers are aware that if they can prevent theft they will increase profit margin. Inventory shrinkage figures into operating cost so reducing inventory loss will increase profits and you may be surprised to know that reducing inventory shrinkage will also increase sales.
Price Waterhouse Coopers recently studied a supermarket chain and tracked 98 product sku’s. They measured inventory shrinkage on those products for four weeks to ge a baseline. A Checkpoint Security System was installed as a method to prevent theft of merchandise. The Checkpoint Security system included pedestal antennas at entry exit ways that react to tags that were placed on the 98 sku’s that were measured in the study for ten weeks. What they found was surprising. Not only did they record a 69.79% reduction in inventory shrinkage but also realized an increase in sales of 9.2%!
A conclusion cam be drawn that if you prevent theft in retail you will sell more product…and it is because there is more product available for sale. Keeping product on the shelf available for good paying customers is critical and this study verifies the thought.
There are many ways retailers can prevent theft and there are many types of theft in retail. This study focused on shoplifting which is mostly incomming traffic but could involve some emplyee theft.
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