Loss Prevention - Term Paper Example

It was up approximately 15% from the previous year. This was the worst year and appeared to have been precipitated by the poor economic situation. According to Risk and Jillings (2011) shoplifting is on the increase due to hard times. In New Zeal children were being sent to still while their parents waited outside the store (Risk and Jillings 2011). Consequences of Inventory Shrinkage Inventory shrinkage due to shoplifting not only erodes profit margins but it also results in a loss of sales.

This happens because store personnel do not realize quickly enough that shelves are available and that certain goods are not represented on these shelves. When a customer does not see the goods they want on the shelves they end up going to another competitor to purchased the items. Most Popular Item Shoplifted According to Bullock (2010), the UK-based Center for Retail Research indicates that cosmetics were the second most popular items stolen. The most targeted products within this group are makeup, perfume, hair care, skin creams and tanning product.

According to Barnfield of the Center for Retail Research (qtd. in Bullock 2010) these thieves are brand conscious as they focus on top brands like Oil of Olay, CoverGirl and Bumble and Bumble. Bulluck (2010) indicated that a Florida investigation described as Operation Beauty Stop uncovered a ring which sold items stolen from popular retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Sweetbay. These items were then offered for sale on EBay. Measures to prevent loss A number of measures can be used to prevent loss.

These include the employment and use of security equipment. Although these measures are not foolproof they provide a means of reducing the cost of theft to companies and reduce the corresponding increase in selling price which arises from this type of shrinkage. Loss prevention officers According to McGoey (n.d.), retail loss prevention is a profession that has the responsibility of reducing inventory losses at retail stores. Loss prevention officers are the persons who manage security program in the stores.

Their job is to reduce inventory losses that are not only caused by employee theft and shop lifting but due to fraud, vendor theft and accounting errors. They interact with both customers and other store employees whenever any such events occur. They have to exercise a certain level of professionalism when dealing with matters like these and so they have to be properly trained. Loss prevention officers are required to be observant, they should be able to think quickly and use good judgment to solve problems.

They should be able to blend into the crowd so that they are not easily identified by would be shoplifters. Sensormatic security tags Sensormatic security tags are widely used in retail stores. They are pinned to merchandise and are not taken off until the customer pays for the merchandise at the cashier. The tags work in conjunction with checkpoint security systems and are further explained below. Checkpoint security systems Check point security systems involve the use of sensors called electronic article security (EAS) antennas (Loss Prevention Systems, Inc 2011).

These sensors/antennas are placed at the entrance and exits points of the stores. They pick up signals from security tags on clothes, shoes, bags and other store merchandise. Therefore if a shoplifter attempts to leave a store with stolen