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!
And according to Calgary Police Service’s Crime Prevention Unit, organized retail crime is on the rise. Combined with employee theft, counting errors, damaged goods and fraud, it is forecast that retail shrinkage will become even more damaging to your bottom line.
How can you protect your business from organized retail crime?
The first step is understanding retail crime and how its works. From there, you can implement a security solution to protect your business from savvy criminals who target the retail sector.
What is Organized Retail Crime?
Organized retail crime occurs when two or more people conspire to steal a large volume of retail products that have been specifically targeted for theft, and then sell them back into the marketplace through a physical or e-fence operation.
Physical fencing can include selling products to a pawn shop, or selling at a flea market, temporary store set-up, and even out of the back of a car. E-fencing is typically conducted through a third party website, auction site or blog and can move products fast and cheaply.
How Does it Happen?
Savvy criminals use a variety of methods and schemes to steal products, however, the majority involve distraction techniques, props or ruses. Schemes can include anything from stuffing a fake pregnancy belly full of electronics - to simply distracting employees while one criminal steals products and exits the store undetected.
What Can You Do To Protect Your Retail Business?
- Conduct a security assessment to evaluate your retail business security risk. Luxury retailers, electronics stores, pharmacies and small business retailers are among the many stores at risk.
We offer free retail business security audits to help you evaluate your risks, and we will even provide a free security plan after the assessment. We have experience of knowing the neighbourhood, the industry and the criminals, so we can really help with your risk assessment. - Protect your stockroom with a managed access control system that limits access to employees only. This will help prevent savvy criminals from distracting your employees, sneaking into your storeroom and grabbing products.
Ensure your stock room or warehouse doors are locked and alarmed so you know if someone tries to open these doors.
Ensure emergency exit doors are equipped with chash bars that sound an alarm when pressed and do not allow exit for 30 seconds so that staff can get to the door before it opens to ensure that thieves are not exiting with your product. - Use a SonaVision live monitored video security system with push technology rather than a standard CCTV system. A verified SonaVision security system will allow you to record and remotely view your store, while also allowing us to dispatch the police to any criminal activity immediately. If you are already using a basic CCTV system, our SonaVision retail alarm monitoring can be added to you system. Install multiple monitors in your facility, staff lunch room, offices etc so that you have many staff eyes watching your location.
- Install signage throughout your store that indicates you are monitoring the store with Sonitrol technology. Sonitrol is very well known in the criminal community for our high number of criminal apprehensions - now standing at 171,000 caught criminals!
- Work with your local law enforcement. Criminals who are part of organized retail crime are likely to steal from more than one store and may be known to the local Police.
Programs such as the Retail Industry Crime Initiative (RICI) in Alberta empowers loss prevention officers, business owners and managers to work together with local law enforcement to recognize known and unknown retail criminals in the community. Programs such as the RICI’s “Cameras on Patrol” allows businesses to share surveillance or “persons of interest” as well as details of retail crime in real time and can really help catch criminals focused on the retail industry.
Why Choose Sonitrol for Your Retail Security Needs?
We're proud to serve the retail industry. Our sales, installation, service, and dependability all combine to provide you with the best long-term security solutions available.
- We have served the retail industry for more than 50 years.
- We have a program specifically tailored to meet the unique needs of the retail industry.
- We implement technology and services that are not available anywhere else, built around our proprietary verified audio and video detection process and backed by a team of installation, service and monitoring professionals.
- Sonitrol Western Canada offers strong local support, regionalized management teams (Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary), knowledge and resources to get the job done right.
- Sonitrol is the third largest commercial security provider in North America — and the verified leader in electronic security.
Evaluate your risk of retail theft by contacting us today for a free security risk evaluation:
About Sonitrol Western Canada
We're so confident in our technology and responsive service, that no one else in the industry can match our guarantee. Our unique verified audio and CCTV video business security solutions enable our operators to hear and see what is happening in your business before the criminals gain entry!! We verify the actual source of the alarm, and we get the police to attend the scene immediately. FOR A FREE SECURITY AUDIT, click here, or call 1-866-766-4876 - We are a security company with over 150 offices across North America serving clients across Western Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon.
Sonitrol Western Canada, with its Verified Electronic Security Systems, is committed to providing customers with the most comprehensive security protection. Cooperation in the elimination of false alarms is not only beneficial to the system’s user, but results in better protection of the entire community by allowing law enforcement to use their resources as efficiently as possible.
