The retail industry is facing many challenges. During this age of technology, shoppers are more aware of sales, prices, and the different e-commerce shops they can access thru their smart phones, computers or other electronic devices. It is no longer a visit to the mall or other retail stores to buy whatever item consumers need, they can order just about anything from the comfort of their homes.
Customer service has become too important then to take it lightly, a nice experience at your store can make the difference between a sale and a customer walking out.
The Rush to Deploy the Latest In-Store Technology is Compromising IT Security
Digital transformation is accelerating the pace of change within the store environment. Retailers are under pressure to move quickly to implement the latest in-store capabilities to help separate themselves from the competition and provide a reason for repeat trips to the store. These retailers are blurring the physical and digital worlds to drive deeper customer engagement, loyalty, and emotional connections with a brand.
Connected devices that monitor heating and cooling, on-shelf inventory, and interactive digital signage are transforming operations and optimizing the way stores are managed. To the customer, these changes and technology implementations should appear seamless. But to the retailer, adopting these capabilities creates many challenges and represents a radically different way of doing business within the store environment.
Yes, even though Walmart is a dumpster you usually can’t beat their prices which is why people continue to go there. Even though they have dead bodies in their restroom and tons of fights, people still enjoy dealing with trash in order to get a good bargain. And you know what else? Sometimes a loss prevention officer will accuse you of stealing even if you haven’t stolen a thing. And that’s what happened to one Minnesota woman.
It all kicked off when 45-year-old Gina Lescarbeau began to shoot on Facebook Live when two loss prevention officers, Kenny Swanson-Peck and Thomas Ewalt at the Burnsville Walmart stopped her and accused her of stealing a Lion King Disney Junior toy.
‘”You know the lion isn’t on the receipt’ Swanson-Peck says on video. “You could record me all you want…The lion isn’t on the receipt. I don’t see anything on there for 15 dollars.”
Interview and Interrogation Training: Assumptive Questions, Part I
WZ / IAI Interviewing Tip of the Week
This week’s International Association of Interviewers interview and interrogation training tip, provided by Wicklander-Zulawski, has Wayne Hoover, CFI looking at the Soft Accusation Assumptive Question during an interview.
Watch the video, then let us know what topics you’d like to hear more about in upcoming Tips of the Week: Take the survey.
“What was the most amount of…” is the structure of this interviewing question. When you ask a suspect this question, you can expect three different responses. They could deny, they could admit, or they could hesitate. After one of these three responses, the interviewer needs to have their three transitional statements ready to react to their response.
If a denial is coming, the interviewer is prepared to stop the denial from occurring. Should they admit the interviewer is ready with a transition to development using “Great, I am glad you are trying to be honest with me.”
Retail shelving along with store design has a huge impact on shoplifting losses. Typically a shoplifter likes and needs privacy even if only for a moment. So why not keep that in mind when designing or remodeling your store. Your shelving and isles can work for you by simply considering several factors.
Loss Prevention Officers and Managers catch shoplifters and dishonest employees. That is a common perception and in some stores it may be a true picture of what Loss Prevention departments do, with the additional caveat that they may have uniformed people who conduct receipt checks. If this is all that the department does it can be hard to sell store managers on the value of having them on staff if the budget for them comes directly from the store. It is even more difficult for small, independent retailers to justify hiring a Loss Prevention Officer although if the store is in a high crime area they may contract a security guard. There was a time when there was an “us versus them” mindset between store managers and Loss Prevention teams. Over time some larger companies have focused their Loss Prevention teams more on operational issues. For example, I worked for a company that had Loss Prevention conduct food product out of date audits. Their position was that this was a safety issue so it fell to the Loss Prevention team. I had no problem doing the audits, but as I looked at the amount of out of date items I was finding I had to question what the freight team was doing when they were stocking. Who was auditing their work because there were a lot of FIFO (First In First Out) issues I was identifying that were causing out of date problems.
Police hear it all the time when issuing tickets, “Need to make your quota for the month?” Usually it is a false question with a false premise that has been perpetuated over time. While there may be some police departments that set quotas they are the exception rather than the rule. Loss Prevention departments go through similar problems. Some people think that Loss Prevention staffs are out to rack up numbers any way they can get them. Most L.P. professionals are simply trying to catch shoplifters who are stealing and they want to apprehend dishonest employees to stop theft, prevent shrinkage and it can serve as a notice to other employees that theft won’t be tolerated. For some L.P. personnel there is a perceived pressure to “get more shoplifters” and in other cases it is real. For the retailer that is not able to pay for a Loss Prevention Staff, their concern is simply to drive the bad guys somewhere else and get rid of a crooked employee before they cause too much damage. Sometimes this is done using electronic article surveillance equipment from a company like Checkpoint Systems. They don’t feel the same pressure to “apprehend” but there is a sense of urgency in minimizing theft opportunities (how to do that becomes another matter).
As a retail business, shoplifting, employee theft and lawsuits come hand in hand.
If you believe that you can outsell your cash or inventory losses due to theft, you probably won’t be in business for long. Or if you do survive, you are no way living up to the margins you deserve. In my 35+ years of loss prevention particularly helping medium to small retailers, I have heard this more times than I can believe. 
How many of you have done IT? You know the IT I’m talking about. You looked at an application, interviewed the candidate, had a bit of an unsettled feeling about him or her but hired them anyway. IT may be a few days, a few weeks or a few months later but IT becomes a reality, buyer’s remorse. You hired someone who turns out to be a dud. It may be they are calling out of work on a regular basis or perhaps they aren’t following directions on tasks you are assigning them. It may be that you think they are stealing money or merchandise from you. Whatever the problem you just wish you hadn’t hired this person. It is frustrating to make those types of employment decisions, but don’t feel like your small retail store is all alone because you have to make these hiring choices yourself. It even happens to big companies that have Human Resources departments dedicated to trying to hire and retain the best employees.
I remember the days when I needed to fill a position on my Loss Prevention Tea
