American Theft Prevention

The Return of Used Items
Retailers are well aware that there are consumers who feel it’s just fine to “borrow” items from retailers. Use them and return them.  It might be a formal dress for the important wedding, shoes for a job interview, a large screen tv for the big game, or a ladder for the occasional around the house job.

“Wardrobing” is a Major Problem and Getting Worse
In the retail industry it’s called wardrobing. That’s the return on used, non-defective merchandise.  And 61.4% of retailers have dealt with this problem, says a study released last week by the National Retail Federation. That’s up twenty percent from just two years ago, when the estimate was a still serious 42% of retailers said they had to deal with this.

Buy/Return or Shoplift/Return
We’ve discussed the problem of return fraud in the past. For example, look at our Shoplift/Return Cycle article.  It’s a related problem. But with wardrobing the product is actually purchased, though there’s no intention of keeping it after use.

Shark Tag is an unobtrusive, though obvious, tag used to deter the return of used items, sometimes called "retail rental" or "wardrobing."

Like most retail theft prevention issues, it creates a dichotomy for store owners.  Fast, convenient return policies make for happy customers and often increase sales.  On the other hand, overly lax return policies often results include people returning  merchandise stolen from your store (that means you’re being robbed twice!!) or returning products from other stores, Sometimes consumers get the feeling that it’s ok to return merchandise that they’ve used.

But you can’t sell used or damaged merchandise as new.

What Can Retailers Do?
You can develop restrictive, though reasonable return policies. Whatever you do, you have to make sure it matches your needs, balancing customer service and loss prevention.

A few approaches might be:

• Require identification, and keep an internal database of returns
• Use a service that provides a database of return activities across stores and chains
• Require receipts for cash returns
• Only issue refunds in the same method of payment as the original purchase
• Consider a restocking fee for open, non-defective merchandise
• Train employees to recognize return fraud

Whatever you do, make sure your policy is clear to customers.

The Shark Tag
Alpha Security Product’s new Shark Tag is effective at deterring wardrobers from purchasing, using and returning items for a full refund.

Key features of the Shark Tag are:

Shark Tag can be used to protect hardware items

• Fastens securely with a pin to the front of a garment, providing a strong visual deterrent
• Pin can secure stores Return Policy if you want (ie, no returns or a restock fee if the tag is removed)
• Tag is easily removed at home by customer with household scissors
• Tag cannot be replaced on garment without obvious evidence of tampering
• The Shark Tag being used to preventing “retail renting” of home improvement items

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You can do something about shoplifting!

American Theft Prevention Products has tools to help retailers and others combat shoplifting and theft. Visit www.AmericanTheftPrevention.com or call 866-416-0999 or 847-972-6540.