Security and Compliance in Charity Retail

About Lodge ServiceEstablished in 1919 as a Test

Purchasing company by Roy

Lodge.

Europe Expansion 1961

Stuart Lodge CEO since 1995

Supporting the Charity Retail

Association for over 10 years

Divisions of Lodge Service

• Test Purchasing

• Manned Guarding

• Penetration Testing

• Mystery Shopping

• Screening & Vetting

• Reference checks

• Industry recruitment

• Alarm Monitoring

• Access Control

• 24 hour Intelligence Hub

• Vehicle tracking

• Compliance audits

SupportingThe Charity Retail sector•Worked with the sector for 25 years, CRA member for 10 years

•Professional support through specialist divisions

•Off the shelf economy solutions

•Individually tailored programs and services

•Produced original “Profit from Security” book

•Manned guarding e.g: Red Cross Beckham’s event, Kensington

Commonly usedby the Charity SectorIntegrity testing/ Test purchasing

Mystery shopping

Call centres

Street fundraising checks

Door to door fundraising checks

Stock audits

Cash audits

Covert and Overt vehicle tracking (and analysis)

Staff bag searches

“Mystery” volunteers

StatisticsRetail crime cost UK retailers £603 Million during 2013 – 1456% customer theft37% fraudAverage cost per incident of employee theft £1031

Customer theft average value increased by 36% to £241 per incident.

Lodge Service findings from MS (over 12 mths):Gift Aid was NOT offered in 51.19% of the visits completedIn 6.5% of cases there was a point of sale till discrepancy

Source: British Retail Consortium retail crime survey 2014

Mystery shopping?Who are the shoppers?

What do they do?

•Improve customer service standards

•Achieve consistent service in all sites

•Judge all staff using the same criteria

•Motivate staff eg staff incentives, healthy competition between sites

•Identify training needs

•Increase sales e.g Gift Aid, upsell

•Compliance

Securing your shopsSolutions V Costs•The solution must be measured against the risk. ROI

•Don’t over use technology – The most expensive does not always deliver the best result for you

•Alarms Monitored/bells only•Locks Quality/ Alarm linked / Key control •Notices Clearly displayed deterrent•CCTV Signage as deterrent and recorded

Locally monitored / Remotely monitored

Discouraging theftProtecting staff from violence

CCTV (and signage to indicate such)

Forced entry and deterrents – alarms, CCTV, security tags

Limited staff with greater responsibilities eg cash handling, banking

Random bag searches

Clear procedures for volunteers, and suitable support

Fitting room checks

Vulnerable areasNote high risk areas in store

Stock room doors closed

Secure access behind till/counter area

Outside – skylights, fences, derelict areas, loading area

Limit number of staff who handle cash – banking, cashing up

Limit sets of key available for the store

Case studies

Case StudiesGift aid fraud

A Shop Manager was found to be re-claiming large amounts of Gift Aid

from stock donations, as were her friends and family.

It was found that most of the stock had been donated by other people.

The Shop Manager had simply used her own Donor Number and

claimed the cash from other peoples donations

Case Studies

Lodge Service were asked to complete a series of compliance audits in a charity’s 8 retail stores.

After a series of checks which included;Till and safe checksGift aid complianceHealth & Safety checksKey controlHMRC Gift aid legislation compliance

Several areas were identified that needed improvement or where additional training was required for the team. The charity received a full report which allowed the Area Manager to have a more focussed approach.

Case StudiesThe case of the missing donations

A store manager was concerned about the quality of goods brought back by a van collection driver.

Lodge Service carried out a covert operation which confirmed the driver was taking the bags home and sorting the best bits for himself. This was just 1 of 46 similar incidents this year alone

Case StudiesThe case of the missing money

A small charity were concerned that a member of staff was under-ringing items and keeping the difference. The Area Manager interviewed him but could not prove the theft.

Lodge Service carried out a series of Test Purchases and discovered the person concerned was pocketing the cash on a regular basis. He admitted the theft during interview - the charity decided to dismiss him but not to prosecute

Other success stories

The shoe box till

The ‘no sales before 10 am’

The ‘turned away stock donations’

The missing Store Manager

A Driver’s long breaks

Pushy street fundraiser

Case StudiesSales increase due to Mystery Shopping

A mystery shopping programme was developed for a major London

tourist attraction. In response to customer enquiries, staff were

encouraged to suggest purchase of a detailed information guide.

Prompted by poor mystery shopper results, additional emphasis was

placed on this aspect of their task and, as a direct result, sales of the

guide increased from 28% to 70%.

The additional profits generated from sales of the guide more than

covered the cost of the annual mystery shopping programme.

Case StudiesMystery shopping used for Compliance

A family run bakers with 4 sites were struggling with compliance of

their staff. The owner was not able to be in all the stores consistently

at any one time to oversee.

He was supported with a quarterly mystery shopping programme,

focussing on key approach and upsell areas.

The frequent visits allowed him to use the results and focus on

improvement points.

The staff responded well, and this allowed the owner to focus on

business expansion onto 2 new sites.

Case study - distribution

• Tracks the vehicle from the DC Carries out time checks every 30 minutes Alerts when

vehicle is 5 minutes away from the designated store Receives live images of the

loading bay (Safe Harbour) Monitors the safe arrival of the vehicle and driver (Lone

Worker) Carries out a driver ID check with the ARC controller Controls access to the

store allowing the driver to enter and complete the delivery Monitors and controls the

driver's exit from the site (Lone Worker) Closes down the BMS, (lighting) and resets

alarm systems

This solution has reduced the cost of the initial DCD process and provided a dramatic return on initial investment.

Through its Category 2 ARC, Lodge has introduced a procedure for driver controlled deliveries (DCD) that has reduced the number of staff and introduced remote monitoring services to address lone worker requirements and control access/egress.

Questions & Answers

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