What are Anti-Theft Devices? And Why Should You Care?

Did you know that 1 in every 11 Americans is a shoplifter? The retail industry loses more than $30 billion to organized retail crime every year.

These statistics show that retail crime is a severe problem for retailers at all levels. There's need to understand the complexity of the issue and allocate enough resources to deal with it.

The good news is the figures can reduce if businesses invest in anti-theft solutions.

In this piece, we'll look at different devices that you can use to protect your business from shoplifters. But before that, let's explain what anti-theft devices are.

What Are Anti-Theft Devices?

These are gadgets or systems designed to deter or prevent access or appropriation of valuable products.

The Leading Anti-Theft Solutions

Here are some anti-theft solutions that can help keep you, your business, and employees safe.

Cameras and Video Analytics

One of the best ways of preventing shoplifting is the use of cameras combined with reliable video analytics software.

The software detects any suspicious movement and notifies you immediately. If a customer or employee, for example, walks out without paying or permission, you'll get an alert informing you of the possible theft.

Cameras and Facial Recognition Technology

More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting in the past five years. About 57% of shoplifters say it is hard for them to stop shoplifting and are likely to do it again.

How do you avoid falling victim?

You can protect your business from 'known' shoplifts using facial recognition technology. This technology identifies 'known' thieves by matching them with an existing database of thieves.

Merchandising Security

Do you sell high-tech products like mobile phones, tablets, and laptops?

Merchandising security devices can help you keep your products safe. These devices allow customers to pick up and test items for sale while keeping them tethered to the display furniture.

There are many types of merchandising security devices available on the market. They include the wired grip holders and magnetic holders.

The best merchandising security device depends on the shape, size, and value of the items you're safeguarding.

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS)

Electronic article surveillance involves three components: electronic antenna, electronic anti-theft tags, and deactivator.

The electronic tag is attached to a product and is deactivated when the product is checked out. If a customer or an employee walk out with an item that has not been disabled, the electronic antenna will detect it and trigger the alarm.

There are many types of EAS systems. The best ones are those that don't trigger or cause false alarms.

Inventory Management Systems

There are many inventory management systems that can help businesses prevent shoplifting. Here are some of them:

1. Perpetual Inventory System

When you use a perpetual system, it'll continually update your inventory information and account for additions and subtractions when inventory is purchased, sold, scrapped, or moved from one location to another.

They do all this in real-time, and you're certain that your stock will always be safe.

But that's not the only reason why you should invest in these systems. They also ensure accurate restocking and prevent running out-of-stock and losing customers.

Most business owners use these systems to generate interim financial statements. They also prevent shoplifting and reduce the need for the physical inventory counts.

Here are more reasons why many inventory-intensive businesses are embracing perpetual inventory systems.

a) Preventing Inventory Build-up

With the perpetual system, you can always monitor the inventory levels. This helps businesses prevent shoplifting and conveniently calculate their inventory turnover ratio.

The inventory turnover ratio tells you which products are selling and which ones are not. This way, business owners can make adjustments that prevent inventory build-up.

b) Formulating Winning Sale Policies

With this system, a storekeeper knows everything about inventory, including when to restock and when sales are slowing.

This information is necessary when formulating winning sale policies.

2. Periodic Inventory Systems

These systems don't track inventory levels on a daily basis. Instead, they track the beginning and the closing inventory levels after some time.

Periodic inventory systems keep track of inventory and sales using physical inventory counts. Why should you use them?

These systems can determine the likelihood of in-house or customer theft with higher accuracy. Besides, they're less expensive compared to other anti-theft systems and can be used by all types of businesses dealing with specific or variety of products.

Also, since inventory tracking is done at the end of the accounting period, routine activities of your business will not be hampered. This system is convenient and easy to install.

3. Radio Frequency Identification Inventory System

This system uses active and passive technology to track inventory levels and movement.

Active RFID systems use fixed tag readers that track inventory movements in real-time. Passive RFID systems use handled readers to track inventory movement.

These two technologies can help your business reduce theft cases. If shoplifting and inventory security have been an issue, however, you should go for the active RFID system, which is more efficient.

4. Barcode Systems

Since Norman Joseph Woodland invented the first barcode in the 1950s, barcode systems have evolved to become an indispensable technology of our time.

But how can they help businesses prevent theft, especially in-house theft cases, which makes up about 30% of retailers' total shrinkage?

Barcode systems help an organization keep accurate records of inventory transactions. They also come with unique features that reduce errors and improve documentation and reporting.

With these anti-shoplifting devices, you can focus on selling while monitoring your inventory. This is likely to increase sales and reduce the cases of shoplifting.

Final Thoughts

Don't let criminals and shoplifter bring your business to its knee! Invest in our leading anti-theft solutions.

If you are new to this market and are not sure which device suits you best, this guide can help you pick anti-theft devices that will meet your current and future inventory security needs.

If you have any questions or are in need of our anti-theft solutions, you can get in touch with us now.