Magazines Archives - 2009 August

Philippine retailers act to stop loss
Story 6 - Focus

These are desperate times. Many leading retailers in the Philippines are facing a rising incidence of theft or inventory shrinkage, which has been blamed on the continuing economic crunch.

This means more headaches for retail operators already contending with customers’ weakening purchasing power and uncertainties over the turnaround time.

Jess Dilao, vice -president for human resources and administration of hypermarket chain Shopwise, states that store theft has grown by about 10% over last year. For basic consumer necessities like infant formula, the shrinkage increase is as high as 30%. Other favourites among thieves are small batteries and gadgets, as well as cigarettes, liquor and chocolates.

“When there is a crisis, people tend to become more desperate and bolder. What is alarming is that shoplifting syndicates are [recruiting] more minors, [deemed] safer to deploy to various establishments. When apprehended, minors are turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and no cases are filed against them,” Dilao notes.

In an attempt to stop pilferage, Shopwise, which has seven stores in the country, with another due to open later this year, has introduced the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Program (CPTED). The CPTED advocates improving the layout of store display to make it more “security-friendly”.

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