Protect against shoplifters this Christmas

As the Christmas shopping season descends, retailers may be wondering how best to protect their busy, stock laden stores against the threat of shoplifters. Problems include:

• Christmas decorations and displays may have an impact on visibility, and surveillance measures

• Large volumes of shoppers may mask the activities of thieves

• Shop staff that are more busy than usual with customer enquiries may be less vigilant

• High value gift items may increase temptation for thieves

Penetration tests (sometimes referred to as mystery shoplifting) provide an opportunity to test out the effectiveness of security and obtain very specific and first hand feedback to stores about why something worked or did not work. Tests are a way of assessing security from the viewpoint of the thief. They can also provide insights to the problems generated by specific seasonal events. Perpetuity staff have considerable experience of conducting penetration tests. We have interviewed thieves in person, and accompanied them on ‘walkabouts’ in stores to understand the types of opportunities they exploit. From this we have developed detailed insights that we use to test store security. We identify strengths and weaknesses, providing recommendations on how any weaknesses can be remedied.

Read more about our penetration tests here.