Clothing Security

Top Three Security Challenges of Running a Clothing Store

Clothing stores seem to be among the top targets of shoplifters. Let’s take a look at the most common reasons behind this and how you can address them below:

Dressing rooms

Whenever a customer goes in one to try some clothes on, you automatically lose any visual contact with them. This essentially gives them a free hand to do anything they want with your merchandise.

Now, the situation shouldn’t be that bad if you were able to keep track of all the items they brought in. Unfortunately, if you weren’t, then there’s really no way you’d know whether there are any missing items once the customer comes out.

Easily concealable merchandise

Small products and even bigger ones that can be made smaller by folding (like clothes) can easily be tucked into a small bag or hidden under loose clothing. This makes it very easy for shoplifters to take unpaid merchandise out of stores with poor security.

Too many distractions

If you’ve had your clothing store for a while, then you probably know just how busy it could be. With people asking your staff for different color and size options all day and then going in and out of your dressing rooms to try stuff out, there’s just too much going on to physically keep track of everything. This presents shoplifters with a whole lot of openings to strike.

The fix

Invest in a good electronic article surveillance (EAS) system so your products are protected even when no one is looking. All it requires you to do is attach some form of security tag, sticker or label onto all the items in your inventory and then put up sensors on all entry and exit points of your store – and you don’t even have to do it yourself. Some providers can actually do it at the manufacturing level.

The end result is that if anyone ever tries to bring an unpaid item out, the security tags will cause the sensors to trigger an alarm, alerting your team to the theft. The same thing happens when someone tries to remove the tags by force.

At the end of the day, while it’s always good to have attentive and well-trained staff, it’s still best to have some form of unmanned security measures in place as a back up to further beef up your store’s security.