Fashion Forum launches first ever sector specific conflict resolution DVD. The Fashion Retail Loss Prevention Forum has produced the first ever sector specific conflict resolution DVD aimed at reducing violence and verbal abuse against shop floor staff.
The fashion industry suffers almost twice as many assaults and incidents of abuse as any other retail sector as high-value brands are seen as easy pickings for thieves using increasingly more brazen techniques to steal.
Although the BRC figures reveal violence against staff is down overall, it still means that almost 30 in every 1000 fashion store workers are subjected to assault or verbal abuse.
Led by a Peacock’s initiative, 10 retailers from The Fashion Forum, comprising the heads of security for 25 of the High Street’s biggest fashion brands, decided to collaborate and develop a conflict resolution DVD specific to the apparel industry, in order to train staff in how to avoid confrontational flashpoints with thieves and angry customers.
With additional sponsorship from Cardinal Security and RSS, the retailers worked with training and communication experts AMBIT to create a powerful visual aid showing store staff how to avoid, minimise and manage conflict.
The DVD was launched at the Retail Fraud Conference in April by Steve Brant, Operations Controller of Peacocks.
“As one retailer in the Forum, we have done a lot to minimise the threat with more than 200 CCTV cameras installed in the last few years as well as increased loss prevention support and training on tagging, but we like many retailers suffer from a high proportion of under-reporting of incidents. Under our ‘Working Happy’ programme, we conducted some well-being interviews, many of whom told us that the ‘F’ word was common parlance among some customer groups. A more sinister discovery was that many seem to think that the anti-social behaviour was all part of the job and therefore not worth reporting.
“Many of our staff report on the brazen activity of shopliftings with many openly stealing and even bringing their own de-taggers into the store. This is why we decided to tackle the issue head-on with the launch of the DVD.”
As well as Peacocks, Republic, Claire’s, JD Sports Fashion, Matalan, TK Maxx, Harrods, Aurora, Monsoon, and GAP, all participated in the making of the DVD with filming taking place at numerous locations and branded stores across the UK. All are now beginning to roll out the training across their retail networks.
Covering angry customers, fitting rooms, shoplifting, till theft, and store robbery, the DVD shows how good customer service and tight adherence to procedure can help to minimise conflict and crime. It stresses the importance of avoiding risks and always making safety the top priority so that staff are under no illusion about what to do when confronted by one of the scenarios.
Tim Edwards, Group Loss Control Director of JD Sports Fashion, said, “It was a really positive exercise for all the retailers involved and Ambit demonstrated its knowledge and excellence throughout and made the whole process easy. I have seen the end results which I am very excited about taking back to the business.”
Steve Brant added, “This was a multi-faceted piece of media that highlights just how effectively ‘competing’ retailers can work together. The DVD proves why sharing knowledge and experience is crucial in our fight against those who aim to steal our goods and threaten the well-being of our store colleagues.”
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