Is your business dealing with increased levels of retail loss and shrinkage?
Within Canada’s retail sector, tight budgets and slim margins mean retail loss prevention is often the key to business success. Theft is a problem that plagues businesses of all shapes and sizes, from grocery stores and liquor stores, to clothing stores, pharmacies and electronics outlets. In fact, Canadian retailers lose over $8 billion a year to shoplifters. Working in the security world, it’s frustrating seeing these preventable losses occurring each year. Many store managers don’t see the value in investing in professional security services, choosing instead to roll the dice, take their chances, and save a modest sum from their operating costs.
This decision is short-sighted, and represents a false economy for business leaders. Here are just some of the ways a security guard can help save your business money and improve health and safety – all while serving to enhance the customer experience
Visual Deterrent
Above all else, a uniformed security guard acts as a frontline highly visual deterrent to criminal activity. When a potential shoplifter suspects they may be being watched, their activity becomes too risky to carry out. Following this logic onwards, a shoplifter is much more likely to target a store without visible security. With many stores already dealing with staffing shortages, it’s just not viable to expect your in-house staff to carry out their duties while also keeping an eye on suspicious behaviour.
Crowd Control
This is the perfect time of year to invest in professional security services as we head toward the busy winter shopping season. In the next few months, retailers will welcome back crowds for the annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza, before the madness of Christmas begins. During these peak times, stores get extremely busy and opportunistic thieves can operate efficiently amongst the chaos. Making a small investment in professional security can safeguard these profits, while providing a safer shopping experience.
Health and Safety Assistance
At Blackbird Security, all of our frontline security guards receive enhanced health and safety training. These modules include training in occupational first aid, conflict resolution, and St. John’s Mental Health training. They will also act as champions for your internal policies, while providing invaluable assistance in crisis situations such as evacuations or fire alarms. They will take a leading role in getting customers out of the store quickly and efficiently.
CCTV Monitoring
It’s impossible to expect management or staff to appropriately handle CCTV monitoring. After all, they’re already busy and haven’t received dedicated training. If you have already made the investment in CCTV at your business, let the experts at Blackbird Security handle your CCTV monitoring. Our guards know the activities to watch out for, acting in a delicate and efficient manner to extinguish the threat before it leads to loss prevention.
Police Liaison
Should an incident occur, our security guards can act as a liaison with local police or RCMP. They are trained in detailed report writing, and will provide their findings to the client and police. This ensures all incidents are logged and can be followed up on with no delay. Over time, this will prevent repeat thefts from occurring as all parties will know what to expect, and who was behind the crime.
Professional Security Services – Let Blackbird Security Help
Ready to upgrade your security solutions ahead of a busy fall season? Why not work with Canada’s best security company? If you’re interested in upgrading your security services, we’d love to hear from you. We offer the following range of services to clients across Canada:
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