What Retailers Should Know About Store Security

Every 4 seconds some kind of theft occurs.  Theft is a problem that directly affects the retail storeowners’ bottom line and sense of security.  Imagine in the time it takes to write this sentence, 3 thefts have occurred in the United States.  That is why it is more important than ever that business owners protect themselves and their property with safe, non-lethal protection.

When a storeowner is thinking about securing their place of business they have to be aware of the different types of danger facing them.  They face threats from the inside: from employee theft of merchandise and stolen cash from the register.  They face threats from the outside: break-ins, robberies, shoplifting.  Each one of these threats requires a different kind of protection.

Imagine a storeowner or manager, alone, busy at work in the back room counting stock and a person enters though the front door.  It could be just a customer, but it could also be someone with bad intentions.  A simple and inexpensive way not to be caught off guard is to install a wireless door entry alert.  There are a variety of models; magnetic, passive infrared, light sensing, motion activated, but they all to the same thing: they let you know when someone enters your store or business with an adjustable chime tone. Door chime alerts are also great for letting you know when a customer enters your store or business so you or your employees can be ready to assist them.

Having excess, unsecured currency in the cash register in your place of business is a recipe for disaster.  That is why a cash drop box is a necessity for anyone dealing with any amount of money on a day-to-day basis.  It is not just a hold ups that are a danger, but large amounts of unsecured cash is a temptation to any clerk or stock person.  The best solution for both these situations it to get the excess monies under lock and key and away from temptation and view.  Cash drop boxes come in a variety of sizes and can be bolted to floors or counters.

Imagine a storeowner is robbed, but there are no witnesses or imagine thousands of dollars in merchandise suddenly “disappears” what are they going to do?  It they had a DVR based video security system they would have proof of the crime to take all the way to the courthouse.  Digital video recorders are now eclipsing VHS tapes as the optimum way to record thousands of hours of activity.  The best thing about DVRs is that there are no VHS tapes to worry about.  Storeowners should install a multi-camera system all around their stores: at the cash register, front and back door, and wherever they need to watch what is going on.  Instead of tapes the DVR records directly to a hard drive which can be swapped out and stored for future viewing.

Store security is more important than ever, that is why storeowners need to take steps to secure their places of business and their hard earned profits.  Solutions range from inexpensive door chime alerts to high-end multi-camera DVR based video security systems.  No matter what the threat, either from employee theft or robbery, a store owners best strategy is having a great defense by using door chime alerts, cash drop boxes, and DVR-based video surveillance systems.