A recent survey by Forbes showed that nearly all small business retailers (almost 90%) have dealt with theft at their stores.
As a liquor store owner, keeping your store secure is a top priority — especially when the stakes for small businesses are much higher.
But making your store more secure isn’t a matter of luck. By following a few actionable steps, you can improve your liquor store security and protect your bottom line.
What Are the Biggest Security Threats for Liquor Stores?
Security at liquor stores can be tough to tackle because the threats don’t come from one place. While shoplifting tends to be top of mind for most store owners, there are several key areas to consider:
- Employee theft: A whopping 75% of employees have admitted to stealing at least once from their workplace. Beyond simply stealing stock, employee theft can also take the form of inappropriately ringing up discounts, fake returns, or skimming from the register.
- Shoplifting and robbery: A shocking 13% of brick-and-mortar business owners say they experience retail theft every single day. Liquor stores are a high-value target for shoplifters and robberies, because of the stock itself and the relatively large amount of cash in the register.
- Underage sales and legal compliance: One of the biggest (and one of the most common) threats a liquor store can face is selling to underage customers. In some states, police will even set up sting operations to make sure your age verification is up to snuff.
- Data theft: Most people don’t think of a liquor store as a target for cybercrime — but that’s not true. As more liquor stores process electronic payments or offer sales online, they become a target for identity thieves and online fraudsters.
6 Tips To Improve Liquor Store Security
In 2023, retailers lost a whopping $121 billion in retail theft. For small beer, wine, or liquor shops working on tighter margins, even small incidents can set your business back.
But retail theft isn’t inevitable and by following a few liquor store security best practices, you can stop many problems before they start.
1. Monitor Shrinkage With Inventory Tracking Software
“Shrinkage” refers to the loss of inventory due to theft, damage, or administrative errors. Not having visibility over your inventory can lead to hidden shrinkage which can be a huge drain on your business.
Efficient inventory management is key to identifying sources of shrinkage and streamlining your day-to-day operations. Tracking your inventory in real time will help you catch any discrepancies before they become a problem. Monitoring your inventory regularly using custom reports can identify trends that point to theft or other inventory problems.
Not all shrinkage is the result of theft, however. Streamlined inventory management will also help cut down on data entry and other common human errors. Scanning inventory with a mobile device speeds up audits and other inventory processes.
If you want to read more about liquor store inventory management, check out our free guide.
2. Consider Your Layout
Store layout is an important factor in keeping your employees and stock safe. With the wrong store layout, you might just be helping shoplifters steal. Consider these factors when designing your store layout:
- Lighting: Make sure your lighting is bright and there are no dark or obscure corners.
- Aisle placement and visibility: Make sure your employees have a good view of the entire store — especially for high-value bottles or frequently shoplifted items.
- Organization: Make sure your store is well organized so it’s easy to know if and when something looks off.
- Register placement: Make sure your registers are in a spot with a good view of the store exit and the rest of the store so no one can slip out without you noticing.
Of course, store layout is important for more than security. A great store layout is also vital for attracting new customers and encouraging repeat business.
3. Train Your Employees
Comprehensive employee training is one of the best ways to keep your liquor store safe. Good employee training will help prevent shoplifting, employee theft, underage sales, and other common pitfalls in liquor store security.
Here are some of the key things to consider:
Shoplifting
Train your employees to identify shoplifters. Start with the fact that shoplifters don’t fit a stereotypical look. Instead, your employees should watch what customers are doing. Are they picking up bottles at random? Are they frequently glancing at staff or security cameras?
Great customer service is another way to reduce shoplifting. Encourage employees to greet customers and offer help when they come in. Reminding customers that they’re being watched might discourage anyone looking to cause trouble.
If an employee does notice something strange, they should never directly confront a shoplifter. Tell them to inform a manager, and if things escalate, call the police or try to note the shoplifter's appearance (and license plate if they’re in a vehicle).
Age Verification
Make sure your employees fully understand what’s at stake if they sell to underage customers and what signs to look out for. Teach them best practices for checking IDs, including looking for expired IDs and any alterations.
Liquor store point of sale (POS) systems also include ID scanning and other age-verification tools to make sure a customer’s ID is legitimate and traceable.
Inventory and Register Training
As a small business, it’s vital to trust your employees. But you also need to make sure they understand the consequences of lax inventory management and employee theft, and that incorrectly ringing up discounts or clocking in early are also forms of theft.
School employees on other common frauds like return fraud, where someone tries to return a fake or stolen item for cash. Have consistent return policies in place and require receipts.
Modern POS systems come with employee management features so you can see which employees rang up certain transactions or scanned inventory to look for any discrepancies.
Many liquor stores carry a mix of cheaper bestsellers and top-shelf bottles. Losing even one of those bottles could result in a massive loss.
To prevent theft of these items, you might consider installing plastic security tags on them. These tags work in concert with an antenna toward the front of the store that will sound an alarm if the item leaves. The tags can only be removed at the register.
Or, you could put all of your top-shelf and high-value items in a locked display case that can only be accessed by employees.
5. Install a CCTV System
Security cameras don’t just help you identify thieves after the fact — they help deter theft before it happens. Place cameras at store exits, registers, and storage areas to get a constant view of important locations.
One note: make sure cameras are visible and obvious. The point of a camera isn’t to be a hidden eye in the sky but an obvious deterrent to thieves. You might also put up signs near your entrance that notify customers that the store is monitored 24/7.
Camera technology has come a long way from the clunky, hard-wired cameras many of us are used to. You can get digital security setups for a fraction of the price of traditional systems.
6. Keep Customer and Payment Data Secure
Online stores and digital payments are among the most popular and convenient ways for customers to purchase alcohol. Collecting customer information for loyalty programs or newsletters is a great way to keep them coming back.
However, both of these open you up to potential cybersecurity risks. A loss of payment or personal information can be devastating for a small business, resulting in fines or a loss of reputation.
These are the important features your POS system needs to stay secure:
- PCI-compliant payment processing: PCI security standards are standards that all retailers must follow to protect customer payment information. Modern POS systems should either securely process payments themselves or integrate with a secure payment processor.
- Employee access control: To prevent employee theft and fraud, make sure you can control which employees have access to sensitive information.
- Regular updates: Data security standards change and evolve constantly. That’s why it’s important to work with technology providers that update their software to follow the current security best practices.
Be wary of using personal email for any business-related systems. If your personal email gets compromised through phishing or malware, your whole business could be at risk.
Bolster Your Liquor Store Security With the Right Technology Provider
While many small retailers experience retail theft, there are things you can do to minimize your risk — and the right technology partner can help.
Choosing a leading POS and inventory management system can help bolster your liquor store security with features like:
- Employee management
- Real-time inventory tracking
- Secure payments
- Integrated online sales
… and more.
BottlePOS was specifically designed by liquor store owners for liquor store owners to help them navigate the challenges facing small businesses.
To see how BottlePOS can improve your liquor store security, schedule a demo today.
