Keeping Your Retail Store Secure
Crime costs retail stores. Every year, millions of dollars are lost due to theft, vandalism, and crime at retail stores. When a criminal steals from a store, the costs associated with the crime add up for the business.
Of course, the more obvious cost is the cost of the stolen merchandise. In a single crime, many criminals can steal thousands of dollars of merchandise from a retail store. Not only does this mean that the store will need to reorder the stolen product, but it leaves the store without this product for at least a short time. This can cause significant issues and lost sales for a company.
Another aspect of a break-in that can cause serious issues for a retail store is the fact that many retail store robberies are smash and grab robberies. Significant damage often occurs in these crimes. In many cases, a store needs to shut down at least temporarily to complete repairs. Not only does this cost a store sales while the location is closed, but the repairs themselves can also be quite expensive.
Therefore, deterring retail crime is important. Here are three tips that can help you prevent crime at your retail store.
Control the Environment
Criminals like to strike locations where they feel they won’t be caught. This includes locations where they can work without being spotted. Criminals often hide near a property, waiting for the right moment to strike. To prevent this from happening, remove any possible hiding places from your property. One excellent way to do this is to install exterior lighting. Criminals like to work in the dark, so light up your property to eliminate their ability to do so.
You will also want to consider moving planters, signage or other large items that criminals can hide behind. These hazards can also be used as tools by criminals to help them break into your location, so removing them is also a good idea for this reason.
Use Physical Security
As mentioned, many retail store crimes are smash and grab robberies. In these crimes, criminals use force to break through doors and windows. Most of these crimes are carried out with baseball bats, bricks, crowbars, and other crude tools. Physical security gates place a barrier between your location and a criminal, which makes it much more difficult to break into a location.
In addition, one of the primary objectives of smash and grab robberies is speed. Criminals know that, even if the police are called as soon as an alarm sounds, it takes time for them to arrive on the scene. For this reason, they strive to get in and out of a property as quickly as possible. Physical security gates slow them down, making them much less likely to consider your location a target.
Understand Criminals
Many retail store smash and grab robberies are crimes of opportunity. If a criminal can see valuable merchandise from the street, and if he or she believes that this merchandise will be easy to steal, they are much more likely to strike your location.
Therefore, whenever possible, you should remove valuables from window displays at night and lock them away in secure cabinets. This is just one way that you can reduce crime at your retail store.
By reviewing your property and looking at it through the eyes of a criminal, you will be able to spot security weaknesses and fix them before they are exploited. Remember, criminals do not care about your property. They will break things, use as much force as necessary, and cause significant damage if it means they can get what they’re looking for. Once you understand this, you’ll be much more likely to make changes to your property that will increase the security of your retail store.
Want some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business? Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
