January Sales, Is Your Retail Security Sufficient?

Despite the recent introduction of sales events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the traditional January sales are still a busy time for British retailers. Last year, industry experts predicted that around £3.74bn would be spent in post-Christmas sales alone. Whilst this is great news for businesses, the fact that it's such abusy time could also potentially cause some retail security concerns for businesses hoping to take advantage of the period. So whilst it's important to think about promoting the sales to garner business, it's also vital to first ensure that the operation is able to offer an environment that is safe and well-managed.

Here at Tagmax, we have well over 2 decades of experience in providing a wide range of security solutions, including the sales of high quality, high-definition CCTV, tagging and alarm systems, as well as custom analytics software. Having seen technology change with the industry during those years, we are well-placed to be able to offer every one of our clients, products that offer a cost-effective long-term solution when it comes to the security of a store.

What AreThe Dangers Of A Busy Retail Store.

Whilst it is obviously fantastic to have a store brim-full of potential customers, there are occasions when a store being full, could cause security issues. With this in mind, here are some issues that may transpire during a busy period for any type of retail operation and how they can be sufficiently treated with when/if they do arise.

• Shoplifting . A particular bugbear of any retail operation at any point of the year is the potential of thefts occurring in the store. Retail theft accounts for hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of losses for the business sector each year, so it has become vitally important for retailers to place themselves in a position in which they can tackle the issue. As you can imagine; when the store is busy during the Boxing Day sales period, it can provide an ill-meaning person with the perfect opportunity to steal an item and walk out, simply because staff are too busy going about their work to watch them. Working to combat shoplifting are high-quality CCTV cameras and electrical article surveillance.

• CCTV cameras especially modern, high-definition systems, are able to sufficiently monitor, track and capture crystal-clear images and store them in a secure, off-site location. Whilst CCTV cameras have been around for many years now, it's only of late that HD cameras have come to the fore, making those grainy, unidentifiable images that are classically associated with CCTV, a thing of the past.
• Electrical Article Surveillance (EAS) are tags, that canbe placed on (or in some cases, inside) a product and working with a pedestal system that has been installed close to the exit of a store, they will set off an alarm if it's taken through its field of monitoring. There are many different types of tag that can be used, dependent upon the needs of the business.

• General Safety . If any damage is caused to the store, its products or even any other incidents involving customers or staff, a CCTV camera is able to sufficiently gather footage that will help to resolve any issues that may arise. With sufficient systems in place, this will no doubt help staff and customers alike feel more secure.
• 'People Counting' . During a busy period, a store will need to be aware of how many people are in the store, compared to its set capacity limit. Working with a camera, analytic software, such as The Prism Skylabs Cloud Based People Counting and Analytics System is able to count how many people have entered the store. Aside from this, the software's main objective is to provide statistical analysis that will make a long-term improvement in the running of the store. An example of this could be the comparison between the amount of people who enter the store per day, against the amount of actual customers during the same day. Using an ISD camera, the system collects the data and processes it, before transferring it to cloud storage. A user can then log into the cloud at any time and receive live up-to-date information, as well as the collected information taken on the day or during the month or year in the form of an easy-to-read report.
• Stock rotation . If a customer is interested in a particular product but it isn't there, what will they do? Seeing as it's a busy time, staff may be posted elsewhere and without anyone to ask, the customer will leave the store and probably purchase from a competitor. This is obviously, something that any retailer doesn't want, so ensuring that all product lines are sufficiently stocked should be of paramount importance. Aside from the people counting statistical analysis that the software provides, it can also make it possible for a business to be aware of the need to replenish stock, without actually sending anyone over to check. Aside from closing an all-important sale at such a busy time, it can also help to place staff in areas of the store where they are most needed, managing their time sufficiently and contributing to a well-ran retail operation.

Tagmax – Providers Of Quality Retail Security Equipment And services.

If you run your own retail operation then it's vitally important that you take some of these issues into consideration and put in place an effective plan to deal with them, as and when they arise. If you would like to learnmore about how we can help your business with our retail security services, please don't hesitate to give usa call on 0800 044 3160 or e-mail us at sales@tagmax.co.uk.