Theft in Retail Stores - Essay Example

Theft in Retail Stores(Student’s Name)(Institutional Affiliation)IntroductionAccording to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, more than $26 million worth of goods is stolen from major retail stores in the U.S every day. In a year alone, this amounts to over $60 billion (Waters, 2016). Retail stores lose significantly more cash to extortion plans and employee burglary. In the past, taking cash out of the till was the ideal form of store theft but due to the fact that it could be effortlessly followed back to staff, tactics have been changed.

Advanced fraudulent systems have been developed whereby customers are short-changed or extra charges are added to their credit cards. It therefore suffices to say that for big companies such as Wal-Mart, everything about them comes in terms bulk. The losses due to shoplifting and employee fraud are almost as huge as the profits the companies make. Dempsey (2010) says that Wal-Mart in particular loses close to $3 billion annually to theft. There is therefore the need to adopt preventive mechanisms in order to stop a shoplifters and scammers in retail stores.

Firstly, retailers should identify the categories of shoplifters, their methods of stealing and similarly monitor clients who exhibit strange behavior. The most effective way of fishing out shoplifters is adopting better store management strategies (Dempsey, 2010). For example, retailers should have adequate knowledge of the store layout, proper inventory controls as well as employ basic security practices such as screening to combat theft. Lastly, retailers should use preventive methods such as deterrence mechanism to put thieves at bay.

Deterrence method involves psychologically convincing potential attackers that any attempt to defraud the retail store will not work. Retail stores can achieve this by designing the store layout and environment with warning signs that indicate presence of CCT cameras, prosecution if found trespassing restricted areas and et cetera. This will greatly reduce losses due to shrinkages and fraudulent schemes.ReferencesWaters, S. (2016, August 23). Shoplifting Prevention 101 Identify and Prevent Retail Theft.

Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/shoplifting-prevention-101-2890256Dempsey, J. S. (2010). Introduction to private security. Cengage Learning.