Security
Beating retail crime E
aster is one of the busiest times for garden centres, but with the increase in customers a crowded shop floor provides the ideal cover
for shoplifters. When everyone is working so hard to achieve cost reductions to keep their businesses afloat during these tough times, the last thing anyone can afford is to lose money through theft. The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual
Retail Crime statistics (released in January) show that retail crime in the UK has risen 15.6% in 2012 on top of a 31% increase in 2011. This has sent the cost of retail crime in the UK rocketing to £1.6 billion. Last year, 2 million customer thefts reached an all-time high. Reports from many garden centres across the
country are showing that customer theft is a real cause for concern. And no wonder when the BRC reported that the average cost of a shoplifting incident rose last year to £109, a 28% increase on 2011. This makes the average loss per year to retail crime around 5% of turnover for UK garden centres.
Turnover
£250,000 £500,000
£1,000,000 £2,000,000 £5,000,000
Average loss per year (5%)
£12,500 £25,000 £50,000 £100,000 £250,000
So, if you are turning over £500,000 a year customer theft could be costing you £25,000. That amounts to a few pieces of clothing, several packets of seeds, and a couple of watering accessories ‘going missing’ each week. Think of this as a bill – if you received an unwarranted invoice for £1000 each month you would do something about it, why should stopping theft be any different?
Luckily, stopping theft is easy…
The HTA’s security partner B to B Links has easy and affordable methods to cut theft, along with ideas for minimising unnecessary losses and adding to bottom-line profits. There are many preventative measures such as security tagging, CCTV and good customer service that have proven to be a worthwhile investment in the garden- centre industry
The most common misconception is that
security tagging and CCTV systems are expensive. This is no longer the case: contact B2B for the most
Most often stolen Product stolen in garden centres
1 2 3 4 5
Secateurs/hand tools Candles & giftware Seeds
Leather gloves Hose accessories
efficient solution to fit within your budget and stop the theft of the top five most-stolen garden centre products (see above). In a time where profits are hard to come by your staff need to be pro-active when selling – let a tagging system protect your centre from theft while your staff concentrate on selling your new product lines. Invest in the future, increase profits and
productivity, have peace of mind – work with B2B!
_Contact Jeremy Davies at B to B Links on 07889 719690 or email
security@the-hta.org.uk
HTAnews I March 2013 I
www.the-hta.org.uk 15
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