If a Loss Prevention Program is to be successful, it must be integrated into every level of the business. Everyone, from the part time employee to the CEO, must OWN Shrink, and work toward the common goal, to reduce it. That sounds simple, but it is much more complicated than you might imagine.

Integration means that everything includes loss prevention. LP is part of every program. LP has a place in every call, every meeting, on every bulletin board. What good does it do to have a great new product if you lose as much or more of it than you sell? Or, even if you do have a plan in place to protect it, nobody knows about it? Everybody has to buy into the loss prevention program if it is to be successful. Everybody must be educated on the benefits of the LP programs, and the consequences for not executing them correctly.

Integration also must include distribution, allocations, merchants, etc. Operations may be more directly involved, but these other areas must be educated in the same areas so that they can be part of the solution to shrink.

Finally, all documents pertaining to training, policies, procedures, and programs must contain elements of the loss prevention program. For example, in the company SOP pertaining to merchandising, the tagging, or exposure standards must be included, as necessary steps for completion of the task. Training manuals or CBTs (Computer Based Training) must include the loss prevention mission statement, goals, and programs.

If a company wants its employees to take shrink reduction seriously, it is essential that the shrink reduction strategy be integrated into every part of the business. Loss Prevention is not just about catching thieves, it’s also about inspecting what you expect, training and educating, and instilling a strong awareness of shrink-causing factors into your employees.

A good loss prevention agent or manager will become integrated into the business, also. He or she will be a selling partner, and an essential part of the staff. This is crucial. Integration means that LP becomes part of the team, working toward the same goals as the rest of the team. Too often, the loss prevention team is deliberately separated, which usually results in the LP team getting “tunnel vision”, and focusing on investigations or audits instead of looking at the big picture and using investigations, audits, training, and awareness as tools that help the company reach their sales and shrink goals.

When I visit stores, I talk to my managers about sales, we talk about goals and trends, and we tie loss prevention into that. I talk to employees as much about customer service and active selling as much as I do about exposure standards and risks. That way, it all ties in together so that the line gets intentionally blurred, and I am viewed as a business partner, and not a gunslinger.

A lot of LP guys and gals may disagree with this approach, but I haven’t missed my shrink goal in 4 years, and they are tough goals, in a tough market at that. It works. In today’s retail world, LP can’t just be investigators or auditors. We have to be business partners to our stores and division managers.

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