Tag: shrinkage

Understanding how to calculate shrinkage in retail is important. However, understanding why it is important to control these results and how we can impact company profitability by both improving sales and controlling retail shrinkage is the key to success.

Shrink isn’t a cause—it’s an effect. It’s an outcome that goes well beyond the concept of bad guys stealing from our stores. Taking action to build awareness and understanding is essential to the success of your business. Here are some common characteristics in high-shrink stores.

What we say, how we say it, and what we’re doing when we say it combine to create great messages—or messages that are forgotten...

Understanding how to calculate shrinkage in retail is important. However, understanding why it is important to control these results and how we can impact company profitability by both improving sales and controlling retail shrinkage is the key to success.

Since its introduction in 2016, the Total Retail Loss concept has received critical acclaim across the globe, stimulated debate about what constitutes retail “loss,” and discussion about what the future role of the LP function might be. New research addressed how it has been implemented, its effectiveness, and what changes to the theory are required.

As the old cliché goes, there’s not a finish line, and for me it’s really about constantly trying to build on the success you’ve had and learning from the mistakes you’ve made. Believe me, you will make mistakes, but recognize you won’t make any if you don’t try.

Focused, friendly, and attentive salespeople that have the ability to successfully interact with customers drive business excellence from every possible perspective, making quality customer service an integral component of any successful loss prevention program. This is a shared goal that will have a direct bearing on sales, shrink, and overall business profitability.

How much of our shrinkage number is due to theft? How do you answer this question? Educated guess? Based on indicative feedback? Through deep data analysis? The “go to” tool to understand the answer to these questions, and move shrinkage from unknown into known shrink, is often the incident reporting tool.

From an LP perspective, a strong understanding of how retail inventory is managed is crucial to resolving shrink-related issues. One basic but important component is knowing the inventory control techniques and accounting methods used by your company. The two most common are the “retail” method and the “cost” method of accounting.

A recent report from the ECR Community Shrinkage and On-shelf Availability Group charts the scale and extent of the losses retailers are experiencing from a range of self-scan and checkout technologies. The research also provides a detailed review of the ways in which these losses might best be controlled.