You never think retail theft is going to happen to you, until it does.

It’s an incredibly common occurrence. According to the Guardian, the annual bill for UK retail crime soared to £613 million in 2015.

Shoplifting can happen to any store. With security labels, bag checks, security cameras, and more, you may be able to prevent your store from becoming another statistic.

Here are 9 proactive steps you can take today to prevent retail theft.

1. Anti-Theft Signs

What happens to a thief if they get caught stealing from your store?

Let them know ahead of time with anti-theft signs.

As a shopper, you’ve probably seen these signs around stores before. They often say “shoplifters will be prosecuted.” They’re placed in easy-to-see, obvious places so no shopper can miss them.

Do these really work to stop thieves in their tracks?

Actually, they do. Studies have confirmed that if there’s a pair of eyes on the sign, thieves may be more likely to give up their pursuit.

For your signs to work best, include an eye-catching color in the signage, like red. Keep your language simple. You want thieves to get the message quickly, so use as few words as possible.

Position these signs near security cameras. This will increase their chances of being seen.

2. Bag Checks

As a shopper, a bag check can be an annoyance, but it’s one that’s worth it to store owners.

These bag checks often involve a store employee checking the receipt against the items in the bag.

While this is a great start, take it one step further. Ask to see a shopper’s backpack, purse, or any other type of bag. Do this before and after the shopper is done at the store.

Restrict bags in the dressing room. Again, consider signage addressing this policy. After all, you’re not allowed to see what a shopper is doing in the dressing room, even if they are stealing merchandise.

3. Employee Training

Recognising and stopping a thief all begins with your employees.

If you haven’t yet trained them on theft prevention, now is a great time to do so.

Your training program should teach employees how to recognise potential thieves. They often have defining characteristics that make them stand out from other shoppers in the store.

For example, they may be in and out often. They may seem directionless, just kind of moving from one part of the store to the other. They may also be anxious, especially if this is their first time stealing.

Employees should be able to sniff out these behaviors. Shoppers who act this way aren’t always thieves, but if they are, they can be caught early.

You must also train your employees on how to do bag checks. If you use any technology that we’ll describe later, such as security labels, locked display cases, security gates, and security cameras, employees have to know how to operate these safety features.

4. Store Reorganisation

If you’ve been meaning to remodel the store anyway, theft prevention is a great excuse.

By moving the location of merchandise, dressing rooms, and especially the cash registers, you’re making it that much more of a challenge for anyone to rob you.

If some of your merchandise is off in a lone corner of the store, bring it closer. Keep some employees around that area. The more visible the merchandise, the harder it is to steal it.

Staff an employee or two to manage the dressing rooms. Consider handing out numbers to those who enter the dressing room to keep track of who is in there at any given time. This also prevents too many people from being in the dressing rooms at once.

If employees can manage who’s in the dressing room, they can recognise if someone’s been in there for too long.

When moving the cash registers, put them closest to the doors. This way, nobody can get in or out without passing the registers. Of course, someone has to be on the registers for as long as the store is open or this move is pointless.

5. Security Labels

Every item in a store has a label, but can these prevent theft?

With security labels, it’s possible. Whether your store sells clothes, books, movies and music, or even food, these labels work.

How?

Each label has metadata, which tells an employee all about that one item. If an employee can’t track that item at the end of the day, it may mean it was stolen.

These tags take many handy forms. They include ink rollers, shelf edge labels, promotional stickers, outdoor waterproof labels, food prep labels, and barcode labels.

You can get these security labels in a variety of colors and sizes, too.

6. Locked Display Cases

If you see an item in a locked display case, its value automatically seems higher, doesn’t it?

While that’s true, all you can do is look at an item like this. You can’t see it, you can’t hold it. You definitely can’t steal it.

Start putting some of your store’s higher-end items in these cases. What you’ll notice is that only serious buyers will ask you to open the case. Thieves won’t even bother.

If a shopper is acting odd but wants you to open the case, you can always refuse.

Of course, for these cases to prevent thieves, you must keep them locked at all times. Only employees should have the key.

7. Security Gates

When closing time arrives, what do you do?

You close all the registers. You lock all the doors. You turn off most of the lights (but probably not all of them so you’re not a target to thieves).

Then you go home for the night.

How do you know your store is really safe, though? After all, a determined thief could just break a window and waltz right in.

Not if you have security gates.

These metal gates cover your windows and doors when your store is closed. They bar access to any outsiders.

Do these always work? No. Some expert thieves may be able to bypass the gates. That said, these will discourage many robbers.

8. Never Leave the Store Empty

For every hour your store is open, you need employees there.

Your employees should be at the store before the doors open and stay until after closing time.

While employees need to eat and take breaks, you should organise their schedules so a few employees are always at the store.

Think about it. If a thief walks in and sees the store is dead and there are no employees milling about, stealing just got a whole lot easier.

Even worse, they probably won’t be caught. There’s no one there to see them commit the crime, after all.

You may have to hire extra employees. Whether these are temps or part-timers, the more employees around, the harder it is for a thief to leave the store with stolen goods.

9. Security Cameras

Of course, employees can’t have their eyes and ears everywhere at all times.

As backup, security cameras can be a huge help.

These cameras connect to a Closed Circuit Television system, or CCTV. The cameras should be running at all times.

Again, you may have to hire someone to manage the CCTV system, but it’s worth it. This employee can report to you or upper management if something seems amiss.

If there is a theft, the police can use the footage captured on the CCTV system to get an idea of what the robber looks like.

Are you ready to protect your store against theft? Contact B to B Links Ltd. They manufacture security labels, CCTV systems, and other security products for retailers. They even offer anti-theft training for employees. Call today!