According to The National Shrink Survey and The National Grocers Association, in 1991, 52% of the Shrink was caused by employee theft. 20 years after, this cause still an enormous percentage: surprisingly, research conducted by FMI and The Retail Control Group in 2011 showed that 36 percent of retail grocery store shrink comes from theft or other dishonest behavior… “Employees are usually as honest as the systems allows them”

The other 64 percent of grocery store shrink results from inadequate store operations and procedures. For example:

• Overripe Produce (inventory management)
• Cashier training (better the POS, faster the training)
• Poor decision-making (by poor reports)

A good POS system or cash register System, as NCR or MICROS, can provide you the tools to avoid most of the shrink results. Invest in Technology!!! You cannot measure your losses without access to relevant, accurate, real-time data:

• Avoid temptation on the employees: as they know they are monitoring and they cannot erase any transaction o manipulate the data, the temptation of theft is fade away. Internal controls reduce the potential for stolen inventory or inaccurate reporting.
• With NCR or MICROS, training become fast and easy. An inefficient employee reduces the store's revenues and generates faulty inventory data used for ordering new perishable products.
• Inaccurate financial reporting results in poor decision-making as the owner relies on the information contained in the financial reports. Investing in the right technology can provide the insights you need to make informed loss prevention decisions. For example, a POS that can do real inventory management can provide information about produce and product wastage.

According to industry surveys, retail shrink ranges from 1.7% to over 3% of total sales, with grocery stores operating on the highest end of that range according to FMI’s 2019 Food Industry Speaks study. Beyond direct inventory dollar costs, grocers also experience increased labor costs and lower customer satisfaction as a result of shrink.

Remember, you get what you paid for!! Be Smart, go for NCR or MICROS