A good percentage of the profit of most businesses lost to theft. No matter how alert or trained your staff is, stopping shop-lifting has become practically impossible without enhanced security measures and CCTV systems.

These pilferers could be of any age group, sex or social status, and could be doing it for fun, a quick buck or on a professional basis. A noisy bunch of teenagers, a nervous looking shopper fumbling with the goods or a person who frequents the store but never makes a purchase are all likely suspects that one would generally watch out for.

But there are other well-dressed, highly skilled shop-lifters who don’t fit into any of these pictures, and are the difficult ones to detect. There are even the obsessive shop-lifters who are very well capable of paying, but do it just out of an obsession to get it past the cashier’s eye, and it would often require a trained eye and the help of security cameras to spot these shop-lifters from the crowd.

Here are a few signs that the staff can be trained to watch out for:

• People dressed in heavy jackets or bulky clothing even in warm weather

• Those walking with an unnatural gait, as if struggling to hide something

• Shoppers who enter in groups during the time of changing of shift or during the closing and opening time

• Shoppers who enter with companions some of whom could be distracting other members of the staff

Though, these are all likely signs of a shop-lifter, it is important that staff is trained not to make it evident that they are watching the customers, as a wrong allegation could prove to be extremely damaging to the stores reputation. If you are willing to make a slightly higher investment, a CCTV system such as we stock at SecurityCAM would be an efficient way of spotting the shop-lifters.