Shoplifting and customer satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Shoplifting and customer satisfaction - Essay Example Shoplifting is a serious crime that affects all retail operations. It is directly responsible for the increase in the price of goods and indirectly affects customer services. Many methods exist to reduce shoplifting, both intrusive such as physical checks of packages on exit and unobtrusive means, such as electronic tagging and closed circuit cameras. The two basic approaches to reducing shoplifting directly affect the customer thereby causing a loss of customer satisfaction or attempt to prevent shoplifting through a systems approach to the problem wherein the fallout on the customer is minimized. The two papers selected for study analyze these issue The first is a paper by the 'A Small Business Development Centre' (ASBDC) which deals exclusively with reducing shop lifting on the shop floor. The second paper, by the American District Telegraph (ADT) Security Systems deals not only with losses that occur at the retail end of the business i.e. the shop floor, but also addresses other issues such as losses due employee theft and poor procedures, which also contribute to overall losses. All these measures are in the backdrop of ensuring that customer service should not be affected to such an extent as to affect the store's profitability. An interesting fact that emerges is that electronic tagging, the least intrusive measure, is the most effective method to reduce shoplifting losses. ... Most shoplifters are amateurs, out to make a quick buck and hence easy to detect and deter. In order to implement suitable deterrent measures, it is first necessary to understand the various types of people that go in for such crimes. Juvenile Offenders. Juveniles account for a majority of all shoplifting cases, usually as a dare or for cheap thrills. Young children feel that no one will suspect them, or if caught, will be let-off lightly on account of their youth. However, shoplifting is often the pre-cursor o other more serious forms of crime and hence should be dealt with strictly. Impulse Shoplifters. This is often the result of a momentary loss of judgement given a suitable opportunity, however fleeting. This is the easiest to deter through simple, low cost methods, since such shoplifters are basically decent people who did not have any pre-meditated intent to shoplift. Alcoholics, Addicts etc. Such types of people shoplift to meet their physical needs. These criminal types are possible more easier to detect, but are also more likely to turn violent if confronted and hence need to be tackled with the utmost caution. Kleptomaniacs. Such persons shoplift due to psychological reasons and can be quite devious. Often they may not even have any use for the item(s) being stolen since it is the act of stealing that satisfies them. Nevertheless, it still remains a crime and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Professionals. Usually highly skilled and difficult to spot, professionals generally look for lucrative items with re-sale value and quick turn-around. If belonging to any organized underworld groups, can be difficult to prosecute, and hence dissuasion through deterrence is