The Retail Council of Canada reports retail theft costs $4 billion a year, an average loss to retailers of $10.8 million per shopping day!
The loss of inventory because of employee theft, customer theft, organized crime, counting errors, damaged goods, or fraud is called Retail Shrinkage, and it has a big impact on a retailer's bottom line.
If you're a retailer, you're well aware of how costly and time consuming it is to manage loss prevention. In a recent Canadian Retail Security Survey, by the Retail Council of Canada, they found that shrinkage has been increasing since 2008, and is now approximately $4 billion a year. That's an average loss to Canadian retailers of $10.8 million per shopping day!
Shrinkage losses are a constant battle and not only hit the bottom line, but indirectly cost retailers time and resources for loss prevention management. The survey found that retail chain stores spend on average 2% of sales dollars on loss prevention. Every retail storeowner needs to think seriously about preventing theft from a profit and loss perspective, but more importantly, they need to understand their responsibility in providing employees with a safe work environment, especially in the case of a violent armed robbery.
Retail stores that are very vulnerable to theft, and especially armed robbery, must invest in improving their security systems. Many just have cheap CCTV systems bought off the Internet with no real security features. Retailers cannot put the lives of their store employees on the line. Your local Police are experts in handling armed robbery situations and the sooner they're aware of the crime in progress the better.
Because local Police and law enforcement are familiar with our company Sonitrol and how good our Sonitrol verified alarm system is - they trust our alarms and they will respond to them in an average 3.5 minutes! That’s often enough time to catch the criminals red handed.
The Police would be onsite at your store robbery quickly and they would be able to manage the potentially dangerous situation. You wouldn’t think that working in retail would bring this kind of danger - but unfortunately, armed robbery and theft can happen at anytime, anywhere. Some types of retail locations like jewelry stores and pharmacies are higher risk, but any retail store can be robbed and any employee victimized.
Sonitrol Western Canada, can help solve your retail security problems with a security solution custom designed for retailers focused on reducing theft, break and enter, and armed robbery. Sonitrol not only helps retailers put in place an integrated security system, but also when our verified alarms go off, we get an immediate police response and therefore, we have the highest apprehension rate in the industry of over 171,000 criminals caught from a Sonitrol alarm system , and that equates to your product staying in your store until it's purchased.
Our trusted Security Specialists give independent advice on what security measures are needed to protect your store. Whether you're a "Mom and Pop" shop, a luxury products retailer, or a national retail chain, we'll audit your location and its vulnerabilities and we’ll recommend the right security system for that location.
To help you understand the importance of retail security we've developed a Retail Security Guide that you can download here. We hope you find the information in this Guide useful.
Take a moment and go through your store security system and procedures to identify where your business is vulnerable. Then give us a call to discuss your needs and we’ll follow up with professional advice and superior security equipment for access control, fire alarms, intrusion detection, or CCTV monitored cameras using our unique ‘verified’ alarm system.
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