London Drugs Loss Prevention has worked with Halo Metrics for many years.   We rely on the Halo Metrics team to provide top quality and cost conscious ways to effectively display products for our customers.    Halo Metrics’ line of products have been used widely in our stores and we are very pleased with not only the results,  their support of our customer service mission.  

 

Halo Metrics is often our first call when faced with a loss issue.    They have an array of great solutions that we can select to best keep products where it belongs,  on display for our customer.    Halo Metrics brings a customer focused approach to our relationship.  Because of this focus,  it is always clear that their team is interested in providing innovative solutions and reducing loss.  

 

Tony Hunt
General Manager Loss Prevention, London Drugs Limited

 

The Fashion and Design Festival has been working with Halo Metrics for 2 editions and we can really say their solutions have significantly decreased the number of items stolen at the Boutique.  Implementation of their solutions has helped us control the entrance  and  the general security of the Boutique.  It's an added value to have Halo Metrics in the Fashion & Design Festival and we are proud to work with them.  Their team is very professional and efficient.

 

 

 

Virginie Coutu
Director of Operations

Group Sensation Mode

Halo Metrics has been a loss prevention partner of the Forzani group for several years.  As trusted partners who always deliver solutions with an eye toward a positive return on investment we asked them for assistance with protecting our debit card payment PIN Pad terminals.

 

PIN Pad theft has been on the rise across the country and the Forzani group wanted to take proactive action to protect our customers from any potential identity threat crimes.  Halo Metrics was able to provide a solution that protected our payment equipment without hampering the purchasing experience of our customers.  We have had no issues to date regarding PIN Pad theft.
 
I would recommend Halo Metrics to any business looking to protect their assets without compromising the consumers shopping experience.

 

Bill Argue
Director, Corporate Loss Prevention
Forzani Group
 

The Business:
For the major part of his life, Benoit Ducharme has lived Canadian Tire. Located in Montreal, Quebec, he has applied his extensive merchandising knowledge to serve his clients’ needs and to build a customer oriented business.

 

The Situation:
In the past, Mr. Ducharme has utilized demo models out front with the remaining stock in the back and locked cages in order to keep their merchandise secure. These solutions worked, but caused their own set of challenges for the store.    Although, the store had demonstration models available for customers, in order to purchase the product, they had to wait for a staff member to come and unlock the secure grilled or glass showcases to hand out the product. The system worked in that it kept the shoplifting to a minimum, but it also created a heavy dependency on staff labor while penalizing the honest shoppers and produced long waits for other shoppers. Not to mention the PA system that would constantly call out for staff assistance to the various aisles to help customers.

 

It didn’t take long to realize that the situation created poor time management for the staff and less merchandising space available in the store. The negative shopper experience resulted in lowered sales as other shoppers, who had to wait too long for service, walked out. The locked cages took up a lot of floor space and didn’t display the product properly - a big detriment for big ticket items. Another problem was the keys to the locked showcases. With a key cutting center within the store itself, management needed to watch for theft of anyone who could get a copy of the keys.

The Process:
When looking at a full on reorganization of the store, Mr. Ducharme learned about the Spider Wrap security solution offered by Halo Metrics Inc. A tipping point in the decision making process was finding out about the companies who already utilize the product with great success. He realized implementing the new technology was a move that he couldn’t ignore. He had to consider at what point does the initial cost outlay stack up against the cost of NOT bringing the product in?  The Spider Wraps allowed him to remove all the glass and grilled showcases, open up the floor space for new products, display the high end products in a more user friendly way all while eliminating theft problems. It wasn’t long before Mr. Ducharme could see the benefit for other products throughout the store.

 

Implementation:
Determining and identifying the initial products to start with Spider Wrap was the first step. Working with his Halo Metrics rep, power tools were identified as the potential starting point - a product known for its high theft level With the thorough hands-on training and implementation assistance provided by Halo Metrics, the staff learned how to handle, apply, and remove the Spider Wraps in a proficient manner that minimized the disturbance to the store and shoppers.  The advantages were immediate. The Spider Wraps not only reduced the number of staff hours dealing with the locked showcases, it kept the high theft items safe with an unexpected benefit - it reduced pillaging. As the customers could no longer open the boxes and look inside, parts didn’t go missing, and product was no longer damaged by customer handling.

After the training session, the store settled to having two staff members that handle all the implementation of Spider Wraps on the products as they arrive in an efficient seamless manner. The cashiers are comfortable removing the Spider Wraps at the tills where the ‘cookies’ or small plastic discs are collected and returned. The initial test was so successful that Mr. Ducharme moved flat screened TVs, typically stored in the back, out to the front of the store where they could be safely displayed using Spider Wraps.

“Another order will be placed to increase the merchandise horizon and help limit pilfering.” Benoit Ducharme

With the product successfully opening up staff time to serve other customers the atmosphere and sales have balanced out nicely and the PA system no longer calling out incessantly for staff to help customers. Mr. Ducharme is now looking at implementing Spider Wraps in the faucet department. This is one area where pillaging is a problem that Spider Wraps could effectively halt. Other areas under consideration are the GPS units, winches, and fish finders.  The look of the product is professional and appears to be a strong deterrent. Mr. Ducharme is pleased that they have yet to find a Spider Wrap loose in the store. That the Spider Wraps are reusable while providing a long term solution makes them a cost effective answer to an old problem.

Conclusion:
With the store being independently owned and being very conscious of wage costs and service levels, Mr. Ducharme believes it’s important to increase your service level without increasing wage cost through the addition of more staff.

Adding Spider Wraps to the various high ticket, high theft items has:
• Increased sales
• Allowed the company to offer better service to its customers
• Enhanced the customers shopping experience
• Increased the job enjoyment for its own staff
• Reduced theft and pillage

The Spider Wraps have proven to work well. They’ve solved the problems we needed to solve. What’s not to like! 

 

Benoit Ducharme
Canadian Tire # 218
ST. Eustache, Quebec

The Business:
Over the past 13 years Ward Saito and his brother Ross have successfully owned and operated several Canadian Tire Dealer Associate stores in Western Canada.  They currently own 4 Vancouver area stores and have applied their knowledge of customers, merchandising, operations, and loss prevention to make these businesses highly successful.

The Situation:
Part of the merchandising options available to Canadian Tire Dealers includes the use of showcase cabinets and locked cages to secure product on the floor.  Although these options help with theft prevention they also severely inhibit the shopping experience of regular honest customers. 

 

 

The Saito’s saw this first hand in their stores where the volume was high and it took too much of the staff’s time to help customers with merchandise locked up behind cages or showcase cabinets.  The other issue with merchandising product in a locked cabinet is the lack of space and the resulting poor presentation. “You lose up to 10-20% merchandisable space in a locked cage” Ward notes.  You simply cannot get as much product inside as you need to and this leads to the display not presenting as it should.  The result was lower sales for key product categories such as power tools.

 

The Process:
Ross Saito learned of a security solution that would allow them to openly display high risk items normally secured in locked cages. 

This device is called a Spider Wrap and it is compatible with the stores existing EAS Checkpoint system.  The Spider Wrap has 4 air craft cable wires that envelope and cinch down tightly around packaged merchandise.  There are different models of various sizes and embedded technology.  An Alarming Spider Wrap sounds an alarm when a thief tries to cut the cables or tampers with the device. 

Ross Saito first used the Spider Wrap in his Cambie store and found it beneficially immediately.  The staff was freed from attending locked displays, customers had access to merchandise they wanted to buy, and theft was not a major issue. 

 

Implementation:
Ward Saito moved forward with Spider Wraps in his Grandview Highway store in Vancouver with the power tool section.  Working with Halo Metrics he tested the Spider Wraps on his Lock Sets as these were a high theft item that was typically locked up.  The test was successful on many fronts as the Lock Sets could now be safely displayed in the open while controlling the risk of theft. 

 

 

Halo Metrics provided full training and resources to help staff feel comfortable and confident with using the Spider Wraps.  To make the operational implementation as seamless as possible SKU’s that were going to have the Spider Wrap applied were flagged in the Equity inventory system.  Price point and shrink risk determined which product would get protected.  As shipments would arrive in receiving staff would immediately separate the flagged SKU’s and apply the Spider Wrap on the spot.

 

The security keys used to remove the Spider Wrap were installed at every cash till.  Collected Spider Wraps are removed from the cash area and are held in Customer Service until taken away by the warehouse.  To keep the process as efficient as possible Ward recommends using a select few staff to apply the Spider Wrap to merchandise.  They become very proficient and quick in the installation of the security solution.

 

Conclusion:
Using the Spider Wrap does take some commitment but the payoff is worth it.  As soon you move merchandise out of locked cages and showcase cabinets and onto open displays you will see a sales lift.  Beyond the noticeable sales increase other benefits include:

• Customers have a better experience as they can freely shop open displays
• Spider Wrapped product is easier to merchandise on display and presents the product as intended
• Merchandise remains secured and risk of theft is controlled
• Staff is confident that packaged merchandise remains intact and is safe from pilfering
• Sales labour can be efficiently used to sell more product rather than servicing locked displays

 

 

 

Ward Saito
Associate Dealer
Greater Vancouver Associate Stores Ltd.