Greetings! After a long break, I am pleased to find myself back in front of my computer writing another Aspect holiday blog entry. As many of you know, much has changed in the Aspect world since the 2012 InterACT conference. Our family has grown! Aspect Loss Prevention is now a member of the Verisk Crime Analytics family which makes the APIS product our sister. Feel free to be humming the Sister Sledge “We are Family” song right now.
As in many blended families there are some adjustments being made, but the opportunity to grow together is something we are very excited about. CargoNet is another one of our sister products so here is the link to some of their holiday tips as well:
So with all of that being said, welcome to the APIS and other Verisk Crime Analytics users that may be new to our blog this year. Once again, I will be updating each week with some helpful reminders and tips for the Holiday season.
Why Not Have Black Friday in July?
The opening of stores earlier and earlier appears to be the trend again this year. A recent story posted on Nov. 16th even mentioned a woman and her daughter lining up for some great deals (only 168 hours before the sales open). While opening the stores early and later closing hours can be very beneficial to your store’s bottom line, it will take some adjustments in your Aspect EliteLP system to make sure all of your indicators are correct. This is an Administration function, so check in with your corporate team to make sure you holiday store hours are correct.
Now Hiring
To handle all the extended hours, many of you will be hiring extra help. However remember, these seasonal and temporary associates can hurt more than they help. This particular group of employees is a higher risk than the associates who know they will still have a job after the holidays. Make sure you get started by creating an Associate Group to monitor this group of employees separately from other associates. Often your HRIS system will assist you in creating this group based on hire date or status (Seasonal/Temporary). If you have questions on this, have your system administrator call into the Aspect office and we can assist in the creation of these groups. This group is now available to run specific queries.
Must Have, Must Steal
What are your stores’ must have items or promotions this upcoming Black Friday? Use Aspect to flag the important or high risk SKUs! With the exponential increase in sales, the item table can become huge. If there are items that you are looking at on a regular basis, consider adding them to the Special SKU table. Your generic or “junk” SKUs should always be there but you may want to add the season’s hot items special promotional items or things you just know that people are going to steal. Watch for those employees who have employee purchases including these SKUs. They may be moving themselves to the front of the long line outside the door by stashing the items in the warmth of the store beforehand and purchasing them later.
Pop Up Stores
With lots of available real estate, pop up stores continue to be popular during the holidays. There are different risks for these sites and different metrics should be used. Make this analysis easier by building them into a store group. This way you can easily track those specific locations during the holiday rush.
Relax and Go To Your Happy Place
Don’t get overwhelmed!! Remember AutoMIND alerts might be triggered simply due to the higher volume of the holidays. Adjust your thresholds as business picks up so that you aren’t flooded with alerts just because of the increase in transactions. This is one of those times where the “new associate” and “temp store” groups will come in handy!
So again, by following a few simple tips, we are hoping that any stuffing that is occurring during the Thanksgiving weekend is of turkeys and empty stomachs, not employees or thieves pockets!
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