3 Steps To Mitigate Inventory Shrinkage in Retail

For a retail business owner, it's challenging to have the inventory diminishing significantly while the profits remain the same, or worse—dropped. 

Here's a three-step process to mitigate inventory shrinkage and help retail businesses avoid excessive spend.

Implement Additional Security

To keep your inventory safe, consider adding security measures such as cameras, anti-theft devices, or even placing security guards in high-volume areas. Security measures can be as simple as putting more consideration into where you display your products. While implementing security measures can require a not-insignificant investment, the ROI  more than makes up for initial costs.

By protecting inventory as much as possible, losses incurred will be mitigated and the security measures the business adds will  actively reduce shrinkage. This will save money in the long run and help to even out numbers.

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Enhance Your Staff Training

Providing enhanced staff training can also be a major component in reducing inventory shrinkage while providing a high ROI. It’s not uncommon for the human element to be a contributing factor in inventory shrinkage. After all, staff can only be in so many places at any given time.

With sufficient training, staff will know what to look for and how to handle or prevent shrinkage issues. If security measures have already been implemented, staff can be trained to collaborate with guards and fully utilize cameras and anti-theft devices for a hands-on way to actively mitigate theft. Additionally, designating certain staff to handle inventory is a great way to reduce shrinkage and gain a better understanding of inventory.

Utilize Inventory Management Solutions

The easiest way to reduce inventory shrinkage is by choosing the right inventory management solution. Many retail business owners simply don’t want to experience the hassle of manually adding their entire inventory into a database while managing the database as well. This is especially true for those who operate multiple store locations.

Fortunately, with the right scan-based trading system, inventory management is easier and more efficient than ever. With scan-based solutions, your inventory can be stored, managed, and analyzed within one simple database. Even better: the bulk of this process can be completely automated, saving time, money, and resources.

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These solutions also allow you to adequately highlight shrinkage down to specific items. Knowing what items are most prone to shrinkage can dynamically improve the way you approach the issue, leading to mitigation or even elimination.

At iControl, we pride ourselves in helping retail businesses across the nation significantly reduce inventory shrinkage, saving sizable costs and resources every year. Ready to actively mitigate shrinkage in your business?  Contact us today and we’ll help you get started.