The Evolution of “Saving the Sale” and What It Means Today | Part 3 of 3

/in , , , , , , /by

So far in this three-part series on how to “Save the Sale”, I have covered:

In this third and final part to this “Save the Sale” series, the discussion will slightly shift toward the challenges retailers experience when attempting to digitize their business model to increase sales by enhancing their customers’ experiences.

Seek First to Understand (the Challenges)

In a recent article entitled, The Digitalized Retail Store – a Conversion Driver or a Giant Headache?, author Tom Vieweger highlights the challenges retailers face when digitizing their operations, as well as the steps retailers must take to successfully accomplish this relevant transition. Vieweger states retailers must first lay a foundation, meaning whatever “digital touch points” a retailer utilizes (i.e., displays, in-store kiosks or smart mirrors), they can only drive conversion if the promoted products are actually available.

 

To accomplish the next step laid out by Vieweger, retailers must “play, measure, learn & adjust,” meaning they need to learn how customers react to offering new services so they can begin innovating with customers, as opposed to for customers. The third and final step Vieweger lays out for retailers looking to successfully digitize is to stay flexible by removing internal barriers while creating new, agile approaches that can be adjusted as technology changes.

The bottom line? Accurate, real-time stock information is essential for any organization launching into this new world of retail. Launching new digital initiatives that inspire customers to purchase more items, only to be disappointed when the item is not in stock, will only serve to damage a retailer’s brand and alienate customers. RFID and EPCIS standards are the keys to success in this arena, as RFID enables a high stock accuracy while EPCIS is a standardized protocol to exchange information on RFID events.

Secure Self/Mobile Checkout: Lessons from US & UK Retailers

At the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s (RILA) Asset Protection Conference that will be held April 29 – May 2, 2018 in Orlando, Fl., retailers and academia team up to present an education session entitled, Teaming Up to Secure Self/Mobile Checkout: Lessons from US & UK Retailers. In light of the fact that self-reporting by retailers, video, and other evidence indicates current mobile checkout and self-checkout business models may be creating significant losses and inventory distortions, Read Hayes of the University of Florida & the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), and Adrian Beck of the Department of Criminology, University of Leicester, teamed up with retailers to produce this engaging, value-packed session that will address the technologies needed to effectively play in the new retail landscape.

Attendees will hear from these respected academics who will share their latest research findings on the nature and extent of the risk posed by self-scan systems, together with retailers who are utilizing this technology in their businesses. If you have not already registered to attend this conference, you may do so by clicking here. This is a session you will not want to miss!

 

The Meeting You Need at the Time You Need it
Nedap will be displaying their latest RFID technology, including RFID-based EAS, at this year’s RILA Conference April 29 – May 2, 2018 in Orlando, Fl This is the perfect opportunity for you to stop by Booth 626 to experience firsthand how RFID provides the technological foundation needed to successfully launch a self-checkout or mobile pay platform while still protecting your merchandise.

If you would prefer to schedule a meeting with us at the RILA Conference, you may do so by clicking here.

The Evolution of “Saving the Sale” and What It Means Today | Part 2 of 3

/in , , , , , , /by

I recently started a series on the evolution of the phrase “Save the Sale” and what it means today.  Part One discussed the definition of “saving the sale” and how not saving the sale impacts inventory and shrink.  Part two discusses the importance of having merchandise available and how mobile payment is becoming the standard to keep impatient customers fulfilled in this omnichannel world.

“Saving the Sale” is means merchandise need to be available of course and retailers must make it a seamless checkout experience.  Here’s additional detail on “saving the sale” solutions:

Merchandise Simply Available is Saving the Sale
Nedap offers practical solutions to typical challenges retailers face worldwide. Our mission is to make it simple for retailers to always have the right products available. We help you to make sure your customers feel they are the entire focus of your attention – that they can find whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want it – because your products are in stock and on the right shelf. Nedap’s solutions also help ensure your store teams spend less time looking for missing products and spend more time serving your customers.

Saving the Sale with Seamless Mobile Checkouts
The way consumers shop has changed dramatically over the past decade. The ‘traditional’ way of shopping; entering a physical store, choosing items and then lining up to pay at the checkout has been completely revolutionized. An increasing number of retailers are offering alternatives to the traditional point-of-sale by offering the possibility for their customers to make payment on their personal mobile devices. However, these ‘seamless checkout experiences’ tend to conflict with traditional EAS solutions. Nedap showcases how mobile payments can be combined with RFID-based EAS systems to effectively prevent merchandise from being stolen throughout the mobile pay process.

Seamless and cost-efficient security with RFID tags makes this solution sustainable. Additionally, Nedap’s solutions integrate nicely with existing systems, and the ability to use existing barcodes makes it even easier to adopt.

As digital sales continue to rise, it’s never been more important for retailers to optimize their checkouts in stores.

Use In-Store and Cloud-Based Technology to Save the Sale

RFID-based EAS
The role of electronic article surveillance antennas at the entrances and exits of stores have also changed. Traditional EAS systems alarm on active tags leaving stores, but intelligent article surveillance systems are capable of not only recognizing specific items. They can also detect and trigger alarms for several different scenarios. These systems are more advanced than ever before. Within this modern retail environment, Nedap distinguishes different levels of intelligent article surveillance to meet the needs of each retailer, all with one thing in mind: We make it simple for retailers to always have the right products available.

!D Cloud
Making sure that a product in the right size and the right color is available for your customers is crucial these days. However, merchandise availability should not result in overstocked stores and the associated high capital cost. That is why having accurate stock information at all times is key. RFID technology makes it possible to automate in-store stock management – resulting in optimal merchandise availability for customers and an in-store stock accuracy of over 98%.

To enable a fast RFID deployment and optimum scalability, Nedap has designed !D Cloud. !D Cloud is a cloud-hosted software suite that functions as a scalable integration layer between the existing ERP system and RFID readers. There is no need to replace existing IT infrastructures, add any new in-store infrastructure, or change the current ERP system.

Stay tuned for the conclusion to the series next week.

The Evolution of “Saving the Sale” and What It Means Today | Part 1 of 3

/in , , , , , , /by

Reflecting upon recent conversations I’ve had with Loss Prevention (LP) leaders, I have noticed an interesting shift in the way inventory shortage, or shrinkage, is being talked about. Over the many years I have been in the retail loss prevention industry, I have seen the focus of loss prevention leaders volley from one thing to the next. Robberies, employee theft, shoplifting and Organized Retail Crime (ORC) are still some of the most commonly talked about LP issues. However, these discussions are no longer solely focused on how these issues impact shrinkage. Most recently, these discussions focus on how these issues impact sales.  After all, retailers cannot sell off empty shelves.

The phrase “Save the Sale” started to surface in 2009, but it has recently gained ever more momentum.  Loss Prevention executives from retailers of all kinds are being charged with “Saving the Sale” in all areas of their focus.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing a series on how Saving the Sale affects you and how you can help your organizations “Save the Sale.”  Here’s the first two critical points to saving the sale:

Save the Sale Means Real-Time Access to Inventory
Retailers like Macy’s and The Children’s Place are still hot on ‘omnichannel retail,’ which is the term used to describe how retailers connect online and offline shopping behaviors. In a recent article in Forbes Magazine, Macy’s Executive Chairman, Terry Lundgren, stated that Macy’s is continuing to see serious growth in the area of “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPUS). He believes “physical stores are not going away,” and that, “customers will always want the option of coming into the store to try on jeans instead of buying three different sizes online.”

In this same article, Jane Elfers, CEO of The Children’s Place, stated her organization is also making a “big move towards digital and employing a lot of the omnichannel use cases like BOPUS and ‘Save the Sale.’” The article goes on to acknowledge that ‘Save the Sale’ requires store associates to have the ability to access real-time inventory across the network of stores, and that this inventory access enables store associates to keep customers from walking away from a purchase by finding their desired item online or at another store location with ease.

Failing to Save the Sale Increases Shrink

People rarely consider that sales directly impacts reported shrinkage percentages. The most successful loss prevention executives understand that when sales are up, shrinkage often decreases. Conversely, when sales are soft, the reported shrinkage percentage often increases. This is because shrinkage is typically reported as a percent-to-sales. This is calculated by dividing the total dollar amount of inventory shortage by the total sales. For example, if a retailer that does $3 million/year in sales takes inventory and determines $100,000 of inventory is unaccounted for, they simply divide $100,000 by the $3,000,000 and report a 3.33% shrinkage rate.

This means that if the inventory shortage of $100,000 stays the same, but sales increase to $3.2 million/year, their reported shrinkage rate decreases 20 basis points to 3.13. Conversely, if sales decrease to $2.8 million, their reported shrinkage rate would increase by 24 basis points to 3.57%. This is partly why retail’s classic saying – “Sales cures all ills” – has stood the test of time.

Stay tuned for the next in the series, “Seamlessly Saving the Sale”…

The Consumer Push for Mobile Pay Checkouts

/in , , , , , , /by

“What’s a Cashier?”

Checkouts haven’t changed since the beginning of retail. Sure, there are different models of the checkout, such as customer-unload designs, cashier unload designs, and even self-checkouts. But all of these types of checkouts have one thing in common: Cashiers.

With the Mobile revolution and the continued development of RFID technology, checkouts as we know them will soon be a thing of the past. This is not just a sci-fi vision into some impossible future. This is our new reality. Some say that within the next 10-20 years, children will be asking, “What’s a cashier?”

Winners Always Want the Ball

Some retailers will wait on the sidelines as their more in-tune-with-reality competitors pass them by in this new world. Unfortunately for them, they may never recover. In his recent blog, The Missing Piece in the Mobile Payment Puzzle and How RFID Completes It, RFID expert Hilbert Dijkstra lays out not only the benefits of mPOS, but also how retailers can protect their merchandise in this new, fresh and exciting retail environment.

The new world of mPOS still has unclaimed land, meaning there are still creative ways to deploy it. This is demonstrated in our whitepaper, How to Prevent High Shrinkage Levels When Introducing Mobile Checkouts in Retail Store. As stated in the whitepaper, Apple stores employ a unique version of mPOS. Any Apple employee walking the sales floor carries an iPad that allows them to ring up customers where they stand, thereby eliminating lines that traditional checkouts still contend with. This system of ringing sales may work well for Apple, but other retailers are experimenting with an even more unique way to use mPOS: one that involves RFID.

Leveraging Labor

There are many forward-thinking retailers today who understand the importance of being on the leading edge. Those first to adapt to the consumers’ push for mPOS will reap the rewards that come with building strong brand loyalty. But other benefits, such as labor reallocation or reduction, can be realized with mPOS.

mPOS retail mobile checkout

Imagine a customer walking into an apparel store. She sees a handbag she wants and simply scans the item using her smartphone, then exits the store. Far-fetched? Not at all. Some retailers are already doing this, while others are still wondering when the right time is to start their RFID journey. But one thing is for sure. Customers will flock to those utilizing this RFID technology.

Omnichannel Bliss

The use of RFID with mPOS is not the only benefit to retailers. Those in the omnichannel space also need RFID to solve their customer service woes. To successfully implement omnichannel strategies like click&collect or ship from store an accurate stock is a must have. When items that are ordered for instore pick up or to be send from the store are not  the apologies that ensue does little to help the brand damage that takes place each time this type of incident occurs. To read more on why RFID is the true omni channel enabler, please read more here.

With the introduction of mPOS to the market, omnichannel has come full circle. Now, when customers arrive to pick up the items they already paid for online, they can simply arrive at the store, select their purchased item, scan it out and leave. No lines. No hassle. No employees needed.

This is an interesting time in the world of retail, and consumers are in the stands patiently waiting to cheer for and support the retail winners who want the ball. Who will that be?

About Nedap

Nedap’s retail loss prevention products include electronic article surveillance, RF EAS systems, RFID EAS systems, Customer Counting and Retail Store Access Control systems.  Nedap’s retail solutions are based on intelligent identification and registration of people, animals and objects, or on innovative, ‘green’ electronic controls and power supplies. Innovation is driven by clients’ operations: systems are developed and adapted to optimize clients’ production and information processes.

Nedap brings 40 years of global experience, market expertise and close cooperation with leading retailers. Everything Nedap Retail does is driven by their mission to make it simple for retailers to always have the right products available. To achieve this, Nedap Retail offers industry-leading solutions for their customers’ diverse needs in loss prevention and stock management. For more information, visit Nedap Retail’s website: www.nedapretail-americas.com.

Where’s The Beef?

/in , , /by

Where’s The Beef? Stolen, According to CBS News

Asset Protection (AP) and Loss Prevention (LP) professionals in the grocery vertical would not be too surprised to learn that meat, beef in particular, is one of the most stolen items in supermarkets today. But AP and LP professionals in other retail segments are likely baffled at this statistic. After all, concealing large quantities of meat is not an easy feat when one considers how fragility of the packaging.

Meat in the World of ORC

It may also be shocking to some that meat has been a favored target of professional boosters. Unlike the black market paths that ORC products typically follow (booster to fence, fence to repack operation), meat takes its own journey down the seemingly endless thievery trails. With meat theft, the meat is stolen in large quantities and immediately sold to independently owned markets, bars and restaurants. To add color to this, consider the recently reported theft case in Memphis, TN. In that case, Mekoe Suggs was charged with allegedly stealing between $60,000 and $250,000 worth of meat from his employer. The investigation was initiated after $90,000 of meat was discovered missing after an inventory cycle.* Although no information was provided that explained exactly what Suggs allegedly did with all of that stolen product, it is highly unlikely for it not to have been illegally distributed to area businesses for resale.

With beef prices climbing more than 26% just in the last 5 years with no end in sight, buying stolen meat has become the only saving grace for some small, neighborhood grills. In addition to large scale professional thefts, it has been reported that even amateur theft is on the rise. Amateur theft, by definition, is the theft of merchandise for personal consumption. With the high costs of beef, some have turned to theft to help feed their respective families.

Armed with this knowledge, the best and the brightest are looking for solutions to stop the bleeding, and with the food industry’s well known razor-thin margins, preventing meat theft has never been a more urgent task.

EAS Protection

Continuing down the line of surprising information, some may be interested to learn that Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) technology has made its way to meat theft protection. This may be difficult to imagine since the first image that comes to an AP or LP professional’s mind during an EAS discussion is a standard hard tag with a pin backing. But when dealing with solutions providers who are truly engrained within the AP and LP industry, technological solutions are timely.

nedap meat label mock image for email.png

The Nedap Advantage

Nedap Retail is one of those solutions providers deeply engrained in both the art and science of protecting assets. And with their superior technological background, meat theft prevention has been one of their most successful accomplishments.

Chilled and frozen products such as meat, fish and cheese are bestsellers in food retail, but as discussed, they are also extremely popular with shoplifters. Therefore, Nedap offers special labelling solutions to help food retailers protect these targeted products from being stolen.

When securing chilled and frozen products, it is essential to choose an EAS label that is fit for the environmental influences. To ensure the best performance, it is not only relevant to consider the actual product and the packaging, but also where the label is applied and under which conditions. Key factors to determine which EAS label to use on chilled or frozen products are:

  • Product
  • Packaging
  • Temperature
  • Humidity
  • Label application (In-store vs. At-source)
  • Shelf life / expiration date

Depending on these factors, Nedap offers different types of adhesive and different top layers to make sure that the EAS label performs at its best. The labels are designed to withstand cold and moist conditions over longer periods of time and can be applied close to the actual product without the risk of detuning or detaching, which is a main concern with Nedap Retail’s competitors’ products. Options include:

  • Labels for deep frozen products
  • Waterproof labels for chilled products
  • Paper labels for chilled products
  • Auto-apply labels

The auto-apply label is applied at source during the packaging phase. These are especially designed for automatic application and can be “sandwiched” between the brand/product label and the packaging.

Label Deactivation & Detection

Key factors to consider when determining label quality are how well they can be deactivated and how well they can be detected by the EAS antennas. In fact, the effectiveness of each EAS solution is determined by the quality of the three key elements:

  • The label on the product
  • The deactivator at the POS
  • The EAS antenna at the checkout or the store exit

If any of these elements are not performing well, the effectiveness of the EAS system is significantly lowered, as there is a high risk that there may be no alarms or false alarms.

For more information about Nedap Retail’s meat protection solutions, click here. To discuss how you can give your products the best protection or take a look at Nedap’s complete label and tag portfolio and other loss prevention solutions, click here.

About Nedap Retail

Nedap’s retail loss prevention products include electronic article surveillance, RF EAS systems, RFID EAS systems, Customer-Counting, and Retail Store Access Control systems.  Nedap’s retail solutions are based on intelligent identification and registration of people, animals and objects, or on innovative, ‘green’ electronic controls and power supplies. Innovation is driven by clients’ operations: systems are developed and adapted to optimize clients’ production and information processes.

Nedap brings 40 years of global experience, market expertise and close cooperation with leading retailers. Everything Nedap Retail does is driven by their mission to make it simple for retailers to always have the right products available. To achieve this, Nedap Retail offers industry-leading solutions for their customers’ diverse needs in loss prevention and stock management. For more information, visit Nedap Retail’s website: http://www.nedapretail-americas.com/.

Sources:

– http://www.nedap-retail.com/solutions/source_tagging/tags_en_labels/labels/meat_fish_and_cheese.aspx

– http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/33660083/man-charged-in-elaborate-meat-theft-ring

– http://time.com/money/4099524/meat-beef-prices-stealing-theft/

6 Most Common CFO Objections

/in , , , , , /by

Seasoned Loss Prevention executives know that when attempting to acquire funding for a new LP initiative or solution, they must be prepared to answer some tough questions and possible objections from their CFO, as well as other senior executives.  A common best practice to prepare for these objections is to consult others within the company who have had experience going through this same capital request or budgetary process.  Often times coworkers can share the objections or tough questions that were previously asked of them.  LP professionals can use that knowledge and anticipate other similar scenarios, then practice viable responses.

What if an LP professional does not have someone to consult? 

Here is an opportunity to review some common questions and objections LP executives may encounter when asking for budget allocations or capital for a new or upgraded LP initiative. For illustration purposes, we’ll use the installation of Nedap’s EAS system with RFID capability as the LP initiative being proposed.

 CFO Question: What are the operating costs?

 LP Executive Answer: “Rather than continuing down the path of standard EAS, Nedap’s system is much more intelligent.  It will allow us to use the EAS system as more than just a deterrent to theft, as it provides Retail Analytics.  However, any slight increase in costs when compared to our current LP solution will be more than covered by the increase in sales we will realize due to having product on the shelf as a result of the reduction of theft, as well as the added benefits of RFID technology.  Therefore, this LP solution is well-suited to ensure we reach our break-even point within the first 10 months of the fiscal year.”

CFO Objection: We have other priorities right now. Maybe next year!

 LP Executive Answer: “We understand that one of the biggest challenges of any senior executive is how to justify spending capital on an LP solution, especially when shrink has improved over prior years.  However, it is important to note this LP solution doesn’t only reduce shrink.  It also reduces labor, provides crucial insight into what is being stolen so we can ensure proper replenishment immediately, and provides a wealth of other analytics that can be used by operations, marketing, and Loss Prevention.  Since all of these areas are priorities for us, it is imperative to integrate this LP solution.  By reducing theft, we will decrease turnover, increase average transaction size, and increase same store sales over last year.  With this improved in-stock position, customer satisfaction will undoubtedly improve.”

 Ever heard these common objections?

  • I don’t want to burden the store employees. The have enough to do!
  • This LP solution will NOT improve sales.
  • That sounds like a huge operation! We don’t have the capacity for that right now!
  • This LP solution requires additional hardware and capital expenditures.

For the answers to the above objections and more ways to win over your CFO, click here to download, “Winning Over the CFO – A Practical Guide for Loss Prevention Executives” by Nedap Retail.

Why Not All EAS Systems Are Created Equal

/in , , /by

As with a lot of other things, when it comes to surveillance equipment, not all systems are created equal.

In an age of the Cloud, the Internet of Things and Big Data, companies must take steps to systemize their operations in a measurable way. And that requires turning away from outdated technology and embracing new advancements.

Compared to other technologies, such as the aforementioned cloud computing, loss prevention technologies have made remarkably little progress in the past decades. Analog and electronic-based tools are still prevalent in most retailers across the country.

These archaic surveillance methods leave much to be desired. Their inherent lack of intelligence, analytics and integration makes it easy for theft to occur — from casual shoplifters to organized retail thieves.

Each of these aspects plays an important role in the imbalance of equality.

Electronic-Based Systems Lack Intelligence

Electronic-based EAS systems are ineffective because they rely on your employees’ motivation to test and monitor them to prevent theft. According to a study by Hayes and Blackwood, only 60% of EAS pedestals were able to read products with a soft tag inside — and even more shockingly — in 91% of stores visited, there was no form of acknowledgment by any person in the store when an alarm was activated!

When an alarm sounds, theft prevention depends entirely on whether someone chases down the customer and asks them to open their bags. If this doesn’t happen, people learn they can steal things from the store without repercussions.

Meanwhile, no data gets communicated or stored into your ERP. This leaves you lacking insight into potential weak areas. What if you knew that more thefts occur during peak hours in the middle of the week? You could increase your staff accordingly. Or which item was stolen, so you could replace the floor model in order not to lose more sales.

But you don’t.

Relying on an electronic-based system creates gaps where items get lost or stolen, and no one knows about the losses until the next inventory audit. It’s simply not an efficient way to run your business in today’s society.

You Cannot Measure, Analyze or Report On Anything With Electronic-Based Systems

Measuring, analyzing and reporting are critical factors to the success in today’s extremely competitive retail world. But electronic-based surveillance systems do not provide these capabilities.

You can’t get any insights into the performance and health of your security systems. You can’t see how your customer dwell times and peak shopping times play a part in your security strength.

Instead, you’re left guessing and hoping that your protocols and technology work.

And this inequality is another area that makes software-based solutions stand out. Modern surveillance systems are equipped with retail analytics that allow you to:

  • Monitor store locations remotely.
  • Access vital information 24/7 from the web or mobile device.
  • See real-time analytics, reporting and dashboards on loss prevention performance.
  • Benchmark and compare all stores within your organization.

This level of monitoring allows you to start focusing on what really matters.

Electronic-Based Systems Do Not Integrate With Other Systems

In the era of big data, it’s important that all your solutions communicate with one another. This helps to keep everything aligned, systemized and unified.

With software-based solutions, you get access to a complete suite of integration technology. Processes such as enterprise resource management, warehousing, point of sale systems, staff planning and customer relationship management can all work alongside your loss prevention solution. This opens the door of opportunity for a wealth of knowledge and insight.

On the other hand, electronic-based solutions cannot communicate and integrate with other technologies at all which keeps it isolated from other valuable information.

Having solutions interconnected helps them reinforce each other and gives you valuable insight. It’s a win-win situation that you just can’t achieve with electronic-based systems.

Are You Ready for Software-Based Solutions?

More and more retailers will turn to software-based systems in the coming years. It’s the only logical pathway along this journey of technological advancement.

If your company isn’t thinking about the future, it will get stuck in the past. And that will not only lead to an increase in shrinkage but will do immense damage to the entire infrastructure.

It’s time. Start making plans to pitch a loss prevention upgrade to the C-Suite at your company. They’re the biggest thing standing in the way of your vision.