Magazines Archives - 2009 August

Integrated measures work for Thai retailers
Story 7 - Focus

When newspapers in the UK ran reports that a British couple were falsely accused of shoplifting at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, there were claims that they were victims of an extortion group. In Malaysia, widely-circulated e-mails, too, cried out against a similar racket victimising a Malaysian at the same airport. The writer claimed his cousin was arrested at the boarding gate for walking away with a pack of cigars which the alleged victim thought was a free gift handed out by the cashier for buying a carton of cigarettes at the duty-free shop.

In both cases, the truth prevailed ultimately, thanks to technology or, more specifically the CCTV. King Power Duty Free Company Limited, the concessionaire operating the duty-free shops, said that arrests were made only after its security staff reviewed the CCTV footage from airport security cameras and obtained facial identification of the suspects. Sombat Dechapanichkul, the retail company’s group managing director, said CCTV footage had clearly captured the British couple putting the wallet into the woman’s handbag and exiting the shop without paying for the item.

“King Power has operated duty- free shops in Thailand for more than 19 years. We have served the airport passengers with honesty, integrity and professionalism at all times. The company has a right to protect itself against theft, in accordance with the laws of Thailand which are similar in every other country in the world,” Sombat stresses.

The Global Retail Theft Barometer 2008 report, which surveyed 36 countries, ranked Thailand third-highest in shrinkage, which ate into 1.59% of sales, behind India’s 3.1% and Mexico’s 1.68%. Thai retailers’ losses from theft were US$1.017 billion, said the annual report prepared by the Centre for Retail Research and funded by Checkpoint Systems, a supplier of retail lossmanagement systems.

The bulk of the country’s inventory shrinkage was attributed to shoplifting (47%), followed by employee theft (23.8%), administrative errors (20.4%) and vendor fraud (8.8%). This highlights the need to install software and hardware that prevent losses and protect retailers, regardless of their operational sizes, considering the volume of people thronging these places daily, be it to shop or window-shop, or for other motives.

To view full story, get a copy of Retail Asia. To subscribe, please download the subscription form from http://www.retailasiaonline.com/subscription.html