Psychological Loss Prevention
The best way to take action against theft in retail stores is to stop customers from committing a crime in the first place. This can be achieved with psychological measures that discourage potential shoplifters.
Theft is a major concern in the retail sector. With Scan & Go solutions in place, the general opinion is that the risk of theft is increased because of the substantial autonomy of the customers. However, a well thought out loss prevention strategy can keep shrinkage at bay.
This entails a smart combination of the three pillars of loss prevention: technology, psychology, and the human component. In this post, we will look at the concept of psychological techniques to reduce criminal activities in retail stores.
Potential Measures to Reduce Shrinkage
Since statistics show that a small number of customers are responsible for most of the overall shrinkage, the goal of any psychological measure should be to identify shoplifters without putting off honest customers. Potential methods include
- Clear instructions and visual tutorials: Teaching customers how to use Scan & Go properly by offering visual tutorials including screen tips and tutorial sliders helps to reduce erroneous scans.
- Spot checks: Informing customers that they may be called for random spot checks is an effective and reliable way of loss prevention.
- Communication: Clarifying the gravity of retail crime and its consequences while clearly illustrating the measures being taken helps to deter potential thieves. Also, optimizing the communication through the app makes sure users know how to handle the technology properly.
- Registration: Using the app registration to ask customers for their personal information takes away the anonymity that could tempt people to abuse the independence which Scan & Go allows.