POS & retail
Not Just Theft: Why Process Errors Cause Over a Quarter of Shrink
NRF attributed 27 percent of 2022 shrink to process and control failures and errors. Those are the losses a shop can fix itself.
The part of shrink you control
In NRF's 2023 survey, process and control failures and errors accounted for an average of 27 percent of shrink in 2022, more than a quarter. Theft gets the attention, but this category is made of ordinary mistakes inside the business, and those are the ones a shop can reduce directly.
Where such errors come from
Typical examples are receiving a delivery without checking it against the order, a wrong price at the till, an item sold but not scanned, stock miscounted or entered twice, and returns that are not recorded. None of these is dramatic. Each one makes the system say you have something you do not, or the reverse.
Controls that work in a small shop
Scan everything. Barcode checkout removes most price and keying errors. Check deliveries on arrival. Compare what arrived with the order before it goes on the shelf. Count a little, often. A cycle count of a few product groups each week finds problems sooner than one annual stocktake. Record returns and write-offs. Unrecorded movements are the most common reason stock records drift.
Making it routine
These controls only work if they are quick. MayPos Shop is planned with barcode checkout, stock management and daily reports in mind, so the controls become part of the normal flow of the day.
