How Do I Stop Theft as a Retailer? | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

I one time had a friend who was the Head of Shrinkage for JC Penny. I asked her what was the most outrageous theft of products you'd seen in the store? She said, "I had a woman who had a comforter strapped to the inside of her thigh trying to walk out." I was like, "Wow, that's pretty amazing." I think a lot of us are surprised by what happens in shrink. Shrink is either shopper or employee theft. Unfortunately, most theft seems to come from within. I want you today, your tip today ,is to look at your trash before it goes out every now and then. Just see what what's going out there. Also make sure that your crew knows how to properly do receiving of items coming in, as well as returns. Shrink affects every retailer equally. And ultimately, if you don't do these tips, your bottom line suffers because you really don't understand how much is really going out.

That's the other thing is take an inventory by category every now and then, match it to your computer and you'll see what your shrink is. Some are very sophisticated and tell you exactly what's gone and others will just know units. But make no mistake, when there's a discrepancy, most often that's going to come from an error, either in incoming, returning or in employees actually taking out in the trash. Take a look on that and get a handle on your shrink.

If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!