How Can Clothing Security Tags Help To Curb The Rise In Retail Crime?

Earlier this year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published their annual crime statistics, highlighting the monetary effect it has on retailers. In 2017, retail crime cost the industry more than £700m – a rise of 6% from 2016. The report detailed that the most prevalent in-store crime was theft, which is now responsible for nearly three-quarters of retail crime.

Being a common target for shoplifters, retailers who sell clothing items need to be aware of these statistics and be able to put in place plans to curb them. In this blog, we're going to explain how clothing security tags can indeed help to curb this worrying trend. 

How Can Clothing Security Tags Help To Curb Retail Crime?

Whilst retailing clothes can be a rewarding and fruitful pursuit, the unfortunate aspect to it, is that clothing items are extremely vulnerable to theft. Common shoplifting methods for clothes include stuffing them in a bag, hiding them in changing rooms for someone else to pick up – some shoplifters even wear the clothes as they walk out of the store. This ease gives confidence to shoplifters to go ahead with their plans.

This is why it's important for clothing retailers to think about supporting their staff with the latest, most effective technology. Whilst CCTV is a fantastic way to monitor, record and deter shoplifters – clothing security tags play a specific role in the protection and monitoring of every single item.

They're nothing new, of course – security tags on clothes have been around for many years and have taken many forms. The most common type of tag is one that works in tandem with an alarm system that is installed at (or near) the entrance/exit of a store. It works on the principle that each visitor must walk through this area as they exit. The system sends out a monitoring field that 'looks' for a tagged product being taken through – on the event that it finds one, it will sound an alarm for staff to go and investigate.

The beauty with clothing security tags is that they can be removed/deactivated at their point of purchase, which means that all items that leave the store will be ones that have been paid for. Whilst it can be easy to look at the need for such security devices to be a negative, genuine customers may actually appreciate that the store takes the security of its products seriously – potentially improving their shopping experience and valuation of the store.

Security Tags As A Deterrent

Security tags are also able to work as a deterrent; when they notice that a clothing item has been tagged, a shoplifter will think twice about stealing. The vast majority of theft happens simply because of opportunism, because it's easy. A deterrent makes that prospect difficult.

In the event that a shoplifter isn't deterred, they may attempt to tamper with tags – which thanks to their robustness, is very difficult and time consuming to do (modern, sophisticated tags, that are commonly attached to expensive products, are able to sound a secondary alarm if tampered with).

By operating a comprehensive security scheme, supporting clothing security tags with CCTV and further deterrent tactics (such as fitting room attendants counting and noticing the type of clothes taken into a fitting room), the likelihood is that any determined shoplifter will leave frustrated and more importantly, without any stock. Make sure that you too, can put in place an effective security scheme.

Protect Your Valuable Stock, With Tagmax

If you're looking to protect your valuable stock by using clothing security tags, then you've found the right place here at Tagmax. For over 2 decades, we have been providing the latest retail security technology to our vast client base – from the biggest names on the high street to smaller, localised businesses needing to get their foot on the retail ladder.

With theft (as well as anti-social behaviour) in stores on the rise, it's never been as important to think about protecting your stores. We can provide a totally bespoke solution for whatever your (or your building's) requirements are – whether you're looking for an underfloor alarm system to save space (or simply to be more discreet), or a visible pedestal system that acts as a deterrent to those who may enter your store with stealing in mind.

To find out more about how we can help you to limit and prevent theft from your store, do not hesitate to get in touch with us today. You can call our retail security experts on 0800 044 3160 or you can contact us by e-mail at sales@tagmax.co.uk.