Month: August 2020

aggressive customers - Tackling the increase in aggressive customers

Tackling the increase in aggressive customers

There’s little doubt Covid-19 has resulted in rising tension levels and increased stress at every level of society, but few industries have borne the brunt quite so much as retail.

Since the pandemic first began, retail staff have been forced to cope with panic buying, increased hygiene concerns, a rise in shoplifting and theft, and recent heightened racial tensions.

So how can retailers handle aggressive customers and what strategies should they put in place?

Society on edge

In many ways 2020 has served up the perfect storm for the retail sector. As Covid-19 became a daily headline, products were in high demand. Panic buying became the norm as people became increasingly stressed about their health, general hygiene, their finances, and their lifestyle.

Overnight the retail sector was turned on its head, being asked to implement social distancing restrictions and rules on mask wearing at the same time as serving customers who were desperate to secure the products they needed.

As Business Insider noted earlier this year, it saw cashiers effectively become police, overseeing customers who were becoming frustrated and turning their wrath towards staff.

“In 30 plus years of studying retail and crisis situations, we have never seen a situation of customers being so rude to hourly employees,” Larry Barton, a professor of crisis management and public safety at the University of Central Florida, told the publication.

So how can retail manage the issue of aggressive customers at a time when stress levels continue to remain high?

Clear communication

aggressive customers - Please wear a mask sign in shopping mall entrance

Whether it’s policy on mask wearing or rules on acceptable customer behaviour, nipping aggression in the bud starts with clear communication from the retailer.

What do you expect from your customer in-store? And what happens if they fail to adhere to these guidelines?

Often this clear communication starts with simple strategies like signage that indicate the store policy on mask wearing, social distancing guidelines, and also points out that rude behaviour will not be tolerated.

It can also extend to further initiatives. For example, in Australia, a new campaign has rolled out where grocery staff wear badges reminding patrons that staff members are also mothers, daughters, fathers and sons.

Entitled the ‘No-one deserves a serve’ campaign, it’s specifically designed to remind customers there’s a real person with real feelings currently serving them.

Effective training

Diffusing tense situations is an art and often one retail staff are unprepared for. In 2013, a research report by the University of British Columbia noted employees who expect to encounter rude customers at work react far less strongly than employees who normally enjoy good customer relations, but who face unexpected rudeness.

That makes training paramount, with staff given education on techniques like:

  • Staying calm
  • Not taking the situation personally
  • Active listening
  • Conflict resolution
  • Problem solving
  • Assertion

Increased security

aggressive customers - increased security

In high-stress times like the present there is also a role for increased security in-store, and this can take on a variety of forms.

For example, security guards can assist with ensuring customers meet their obligations in terms of behaviour and policy, while CCTV can act as a deterrent to problematic behaviour.

Critically retailers should also be implementing available technology to address activities like shoplifting, which often goes hand in hand with aggressive behaviour.

In fact, many loss prevention strategies overlap with the techniques used to mitigate aggression.

These include:

  • Staff education
  • Good store layout
  • Stellar customer service
  • Clear policy and signage
  • Product protection (such as EAS security tags and labels)
  • Storewide security like CCTV and loss prevention personnel

You can learn more about strategies to improve the security of your store here

point of sale loss prevention- header

Loss prevention at the Point of Sale

As the place where transactions take place, the Point of Sale is a pivotal to loss prevention. Not only is it the station where staff cast a watchful gaze over the floor, it’s also the potential site of employee theft and consumer fraud.

Here’s a guide to improving loss prevention at the Point of Sale.

Central positioning

The Point of Sale requires careful positioning to ensure it is accessible to customers looking to make a transaction and is also centrally located to allow staff to monitor the floor and additional areas such as changerooms.

For staff, it should be spacious enough to accommodate the tools they need, such as a register, cash drawer and barcode scanner, and should be easy to exit and enter, while still indicating this is an arena for employees only.

Easy exit and entry ensure staff can come out from behind the POS to assist customers when required.

Mobile POS

Mobile Point of Sale assists with both customer service and loss prevention. It allows staff to move freely on the floor, while still making sales, and cutting customer time spent in the queue.

Meanwhile, mobile POS can also assist with loss prevention because it ensures staff can be where they need to be, meeting and greeting clientele while facilitating sales.

Software to measure and manage

point of sale loss prevention - POS software

The POS is key to measuring exactly where loss in-store is occurring. Sales reports and inventory software can help identify trends such as items that are missing, along with peak periods which might be more prone to theft.

This software can also assist in identifying employee theft and customer fraud, by highlighting trends in gift card sales, returns and exchanges, and offering information about who is on duty at that time.

CCTV

CCTV that monitors both the store and the Point of Sale serves to reduce both shoplifting and staff theft. When CCTV is obvious and clearly labelled it acts as a deterrent, while also serving to identify perpetrators.

Staff training

Staff training is imperative to reducing loss throughout a retail outlet, and much of this training relates to the Point of Sale.

Store policies and procedures set parameters for exchanges and returns, while also fostering secure cash management skills, accountability, good customer service, and employee expectations.

These in turn help minimize miscellaneous loss, shoplifting and employee theft.

EAS handling

point of sale loss prevention- 2

The Point of Sale is inextricably linked with loss prevention strategies like electronic article surveillance. For example, the POS should have a line of sight to EAS antenna so staff can quickly be alerted to an alarm and see exactly what’s occurring.

Meanwhile, the POS is the place where security labels are deactivated, and security tags are removed.

Store management should ensure there are sufficient detachers for tags available, so staff can seamlessly remove tags at the POS as part of the sales transaction.

These detachers should also be secured so they are not the target of theft, while it’s important to note accurate and consistent tag detaching helps mitigate false EAS alarms.

When it comes to label deactivators, these should be positioned with the barcode scanner, so the transaction is registered, and the label is deactivated in one maneuver. This reduces time spent at the POS while also improving EAS accuracy.

You can learn more about strategies to improve loss prevention in store here, or contact our friendly staff to order your security tags and labels here.

smarter loss prevention

Five simple steps for smarter loss prevention

These days retailers have a wealth of tools available to them when it comes to understanding where loss is occurring and how it can be combatted.

But while the tools and data abound, how do you best employ them? What are the small steps you need to take to make the giant leap towards securing your bottom line?

Well, that’s a $61.7 billion question the retail sector frequently asks. So, here are the steps to smarter loss prevention.

Measure to manage

In order to understand your loss, you need to measure it. That means understanding whether you are losing products in the supply chain, via shoplifting, through internal theft, or due to error.

Tools that tell you this information include stock takes, inventory reconciliation on delivery, Point of Sale data, and more, but the reality is retailers are gathering data every minute of every day.

From sales reports to inventory counting, this data paints a picture, but there’s also more to look for than just what’s going missing.

This includes gathering information about when your store is busiest and therefore more likely to be prone to theft, who’s on duty during that time, when products might be more likely to go missing, or the types of products that are more prone to loss.

Traffic counting can assist with this as can tools such as RFID inventory counting, which enables retailers to accurately count inventory within a matter of minutes.

Together, this data paints a picture of the leaks that need to be plugged.

Set KPIs

smarter loss prevention - KPIs

Once you know what’s actually occurring in terms of loss, a retailer should say Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to really get specific about combatting shrink.

These KPIs assist by helping you home in further on what’s happening in a bid to find the right tools to address it.

Loss prevention KPIs might include:

  • EAS alarms by hour
  • EAS alarms by traffic
  • The tag deactivation success rate (as in how often staff fail to detach a tag or deactivate a label)
  • Organized retail crime events
  • Inventory inaccuracies
  • Staff access to cabinets and displays versus loss
  • Gift card and return activity per staff member
  • And more

Set policies

In a bid to meet these KPIs, systems and procedures should be employed in-store. These will encompass areas like what to look for in terms of shoplifting, return and gift card policies, customer service procedures, stock counting routines etc.

They will also extend to EAS system checks and appropriate application and deactivation of EAS security tags and labels.

All these policies and procedures help establish an accountable expectation in-store that works to eliminate human error. They also serve to set an expectation for staff behaviour when it comes to reducing loss.

Deploy technology

Loss prevention technology continually evolves and improves, meaning there are now more effective tools available than ever before when it comes to mitigating loss.

EAS is an obvious example here as one of the most popular theft prevention methods, and like all technology, it requires regular upgrades.

Retailers should revisit their EAS systems on a regular basis to determine whether stronger tags might be required, whether additional tools like EAS in the fitting room needs to be employed, or whether the right tag or label is being used for the right product.

Other tools that can assist include RFID, which enables a store to track product location and information in real-time, higher resolution CCTV to identify thieves, mobile POS with detailed analytics, and smart keys which are allocated to specific staff members allowing retailers to track who opens cabinets and drawers.

Rinse and repeat

Once a retailer has worked through each of these steps, the circle begins again in a bid to further combat loss.

Any loss still occurring should be measured, new KPIs should be set, fresh systems introduced, and further technology deployed to assist.

The reality is loss prevention is a constant work in progress which evolves over time. The retailers with the best success at mitigating loss consistently revise their approach. They regularly upgrade operations in response to a changing landscape and appreciate that what worked one year ago may need improvement the next.

You can learn more about our range of security tags here, or labels here. Meanwhile, further information about reducing theft and loss instore is available here.

Social value matters in retail

Social values matter in retail

US consumers now trust brands more than the government, according to research published by the National Retail Federation.

The finding opens up a wealth of opportunity for retailers looking to connect with a consumer who is increasingly making decisions based on social values.

Here’s what the research found and how it impacts retailers.

Social values matter in a time of uncertainty

The recent study, which was conducted by GfK, highlights how consumer values are shifting in a time of great uncertainty.

COVID-19 coupled with social issues like Black Lives Matter are seeing consumers vote with their wallets when it comes to the brands they trust and choose to buy from.

The study found there was a mounting sense of social responsibility across the US, with social tolerance and equality among the areas experiencing a rapid rise, while Americans are increasingly aware and concerned about social and economic inequality.

And when it comes to the issues that matter, consumers now trust brands to tell the truth more than they do the government.

  • 68 per cent of survey respondents feel there is less sense of community than a decade ago
  • 35 per cent of people trust brands to tell them the truth
  • 25 per cent of people trust the government to tell them the truth

Meanwhile, 74 per cent of people agreed the way a company or business conducted themselves during issues such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests impacted whether they would do business with them in the future. A further 59 per cent noted they had seen brands doing good during this period.

Confirming an ongoing trend

The GfK research opens up an interesting conversation about the power of social values in retail, and it builds on further studies of the importance of conscious consumerism.

Long before COVID and BLM, research firm Nielsen flagged the power of appealing to consumer values.

In 2018, for example, they noted half of all Americans would change their consumption habits if they felt it could reduce their impact on the environment.

Labelling it ‘the year of the conscious consumer’, they found the trend was reflected in Baby Boomers, Millennials and Gen X alike. That said, technology-savvy Millennials, were more adamant in their push.

Their research also found this consciously-driven consumerism delivered real value, with 80 per cent of millennials stating they would pay more for products that have social responsibility claims.

What does that mean for retailers?

Social values matter in retail

For retailers, the rising importance of social values opens up an opportunity to have an authentic conversation with your customer.

The NRF explains: “This is a critical moment for brands to step up and reconsider both their internal practices and their external messaging”.

Outlining the three key areas where retailers can focus on this, they note brands should communicate:

  • How they are supporting employees
  • What they are doing to promote a diverse workforce
  • Specific actions to address racial tensions and inequality

Authenticity and transparency

With less trust in institutions like government, brands are increasingly stepping up to fill a void in people’s lives.

And the way they conduct themselves in social and environmental areas is being scrutinised closely.

That means retailers need to be more authentic and transparent across the board – from how they run their workforce to where they source their products and what’s involved in the manufacturing.

Retailers and brands who embrace this new trend build a relationship of trust with their consumer. And with trust comes loyalty – which is the foundation of long-term business success.