Holiday Preparation Checklist

Use this handy holiday preparation checklist to prepare your retail store for the busy sales season.

Environment

Decor

• Assure your holiday decorations aren’t blocking surveillance cameras or creating blind spots
• Tape down cords to avoid tripping hazards
• Don’t create new hiding spaces with your décor. Fake gifts, empty boxes, or sleds all make easy depositories for stolen merchandise or abandoned packaging.
• Monitor your holiday window displays

Surveillance

• Clean and focus your surveillance cameras on cash registers, front and back doors, and areas of high theft
• Make sure your NVR or recording device is functioning properly
• Create signage letting customers know you look for and prosecute shoplifting

Policies

• Secure back doors, receiving doors, and private offices. Create proper policies for entry and exit.
• Put proper trash policies into place

Staffing and Training

Hiring

• When hiring seasonal employees, conduct backgrounds checks and check references
• Emphasize that customer service is the number one deterrent to shoplifting and theft over the holiday season.

-Greet guests immediately

-Make eye contact

-Check in with guests often

Training

• Schedule a mandatory training meeting for ALL staff which covers:

–Cash handing procedures

-Credit card sales and credit card return process

–Gift card sales and redemption

-Coupons and sales procedures

–Return process

-Key management

-Opening and closing procedures

–Shoplifting

-Emergency action plans

Policies

• Test your technology, including your POS integration, EAS, traffic counters, etc.
• Maintain proper levels of staffing, especially on the sales floor
• Create strict protocols for making deposits
• Have a safe policy for employees who leave the store after hours