What Are the Best Ways to Secure My Inventory?
Security for expensive merchandise has been a component of retail for many years. The trick to securing retail merchandise has been a challenge in merchandising. Not all products have the same size, shape or desired method of display and this makes for the need for multiple security systems.
For the purposes of this article, we will stay focused on eyewear display since that addresses our primary market. The size and shape of eyewear made it quite easy to create a simple way to display products in a retail environment. Jewelry style showcases and glass front wall showcases used for jewelry and small items provided the first level of “visible”, yet secure, merchandising. While these showcases provided a merchandising opportunity in a secure environment, they limited the number of products available to be shown. This is a significant point since most retail spaces are limited and owners look at the cost per frame to display. When you take the cost of a large glass showcase and divide that cost by the number of frames it can display, you must be prepared that this will likely be your most expensive display space.
The secondary consideration for putting eyewear behind glass is the requirement for customer interaction. Each client that wishes to see a product behind glass will truly define who your best salespeople are and how you need to craft your client greeting. As an example, a client walks up to a showcase with 50 different sunglasses. Being cheerful, your salesperson walks up to the showcase and says, “may I help you”? This being the typical response of probably 99% interactions. The client says “No thanks, I’m just looking.” If this is how your staff would typically react, you will need to address this if you wish to use glass showcasing.
The sales psychology of the interaction above linked with the cost of glass showcases created the opportunity for display manufacturers focused on retail eyewear merchandising to introduce both individual and gang locked displays. These displays eliminated the need for merchandise to be “behind glass”. The displays still required the assistance of a salesperson to unlock them, but since the client was already able to touch the item they were focused on, the whole sales interaction moved from “asking for the order” to “closing the sale”. The conversation turned to “Let me help you with that” from the salesperson to “Thank you” from the client.
How you choose to secure your merchandise really depends on how you desire your clients to be greeted and to another degree, your budget. Should you choose to use displays that are not behind glass, the options are for individual locked frames to gang locked frames for wall displays. The gang lock style for walls are available in both key and remote access to suit your presentation and interaction desires. There are also single and gang lock displays specific to counter displays. No matter what you choose, security will be required for about 15 – 20 percent of your inventory to reduce your shrinkage. Sunglasses and higher end boutique frames tend to sprout legs if they are not secured.
