CCTV Cameras: Saving Small Businesses

Shoplifting and theft has been a problem for small business owners for a long time now and no matter what shop attendants and owners do, people seem to find a way to get away with stealing things like packs of gum or a whole tray full of jewelry.

Despite the precautions shop owners take in order to safeguard their property and inventory, shoplifters and thieves are still able to do what they set out to do without getting caught. It may seem tricky at first, but for professionals, stealing from small businesses is a piece of cake. One of the most common modus operandi used by thieves is to come in groups. While two or more members of the group distract the attendant or store owner, one of them is already taking items off the shelves or display cases and stuffing them in their bags or even hidden compartments in their clothes. Once they have what they want, they leave, and the attendant is none the wiser. Other criminals take a less subtle approach and use knives, guns and other weapons to rob a store or other business establishments.

How Does Theft Affect Small Businesses?

For a small convenience store, jewelry store or electronics store, every piece of inventory counts. Unlike superstores that have boxes of stock of a particular item in their warehouses, small businesses will lose a chunk of their capital and profit whenever an item is stolen from their shop. It doesn’t matter what they steal, anything missing from the shelves has a big impact on the store’s bottom line. When a store is unprotected, especially after an incident of theft, the chances of these incidents repeating increases, and soon the business would suffer a loss big enough to close it down.

Losing inventory is just one problem a small business has to deal with when incidents of theft occur. Another thing shop owners and attendants should worry about is their safety. These people put their lives at risk whenever they try to protect their premises against criminal elements with guns and knives. They not only lose valuable merchandise, they can also potentially lose their lives.

Protecting Small Businesses

Small business owners know that protecting their establishment is equal to protecting their livelihood. Many of them install security systems and other gadgets that would alert the police when a robbery is in progress, but in most cases, these aren’t enough. What small businesses need are deterrents like CCTV cameras. These cameras not only capture video that can help catch robbers and shoplifters and prove that they have indeed committed a crime; they also serve as a deterrent. Thieves will think twice about stealing something from a store that has cameras recording everyone’s movements.

Theft has always been, and will always be, the number one problem small businesses face. As long as there are stores that are left unprotected, there will always be criminal elements waiting to take advantage of the situation. This is why it is important to address this issue before it gets out of control.