Black Friday Watch: How to Secure Your Retail Store This Holiday Season

There are surefire signs that the holidays are around the corner: decorations begin to pop up, Christmas songs fill the air, and the Hallmark Channel is in full-blown holiday movie marathon mode. Once they appear, you know the most wonderful time of the year is here.

The holiday shopping season is the most wonderful time of the year for businesses as well, as they experience a significant jump in sales. And despite an uncertain economy, the National Retail Federation (NFR) projects holiday sales to increase 4% compared to last year, totaling over a trillion dollars—the first time that benchmark has ever been reached.

But more shoppers means more opportunities for things to go wrong. The holiday charm can quickly give way to overcrowded aisles, stressed staff, and heightened risk. Throngs of customers on Black Friday and beyond, jockeying for the hottest toy or gadget, can cause stress, rising tensions, and aggressive behaviors. Before you know it, people are channeling Mad Max entering the Thunderdome.

It's a recipe for chaos and a prime opportunity for crime. However, by shoring up your business security plan, you can ensure the holiday shopping season is less naughty and more nice.

Securing Stores During the Holiday Season

Surveillance Cameras

Cameras aren’t just a helpful tool for spotting crime; they can be a psychological deterrent as well. Placing cameras in multiple visible locations lets people know they’re being actively monitored. That sense of constant watch is often enough to prevent unwanted behavior.

Consider pointing cameras toward high-traffic areas and high-value zones like stockrooms or aisles with in-demand inventory. Using multiple cameras helps create site-wide camera coverage, capturing various angles and eliminating blind spots. Surveillance feeds should be double-checked to make sure decorations or lights aren’t blocking camera views.

Crowd Control

Every business wants to attract more shoppers—but not at the cost of creating a chaotic environment that overwhelms employees and frustrates customers.

Controlling the number of people in your store by limiting how many customers enter at once can help maintain a manageable environment. It not only creates a more comfortable experience for shoppers but also allows staff to stay engaged, offer better service, and stay alert to suspicious activity.

For added support, placing security guards at key access points—like entrance doors—can help with crowd control and serve as a strong deterrent to potential criminals.

Securing Inventory

As more shoppers flood stores, it provides not only businesses the opportunity to profit but also criminals. Crowded stores make it easy for shoplifters to blend in anonymously and to steal items undetected.  

As such, businesses must take extra measures to secure their inventory. Simple steps—like storing products out of arm’s reach behind a register or counter, or keeping them locked in cabinets—can be an effective way to prevent theft.

Using electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags or devices can also help. If an item is stolen, it can trigger an alarm and potentially be tracked, making it easier to recover stolen goods and apprehend the thief.

Employee Training

With throngs of holiday shoppers filling stores, it’s important to keep your business well-staffed. Staffing shortages can reduce customer satisfaction, increase wait times (which leads to more crowding), and leave employees feeling overwhelmed. And all that chaos creates ideal conditions for increased crime. 

Unfortunately, staffing shortages are a common problem. In fact, 78% of retailers admit to struggling to fill labor gaps during the holiday season, with 83% anticipating that they will be understaffed at least two days per week.

To fill those gaps, many businesses bring on seasonal hires—but new staff often lack institutional knowledge, which can lead to growing pains and even more chaos. Providing adequate training is a must if you want to ensure ideal customer experiences and minimize the risk of theft, fraud, and other threats. 

Staff should be trained not only to provide great customer service but also to stay alert and aware of their surroundings. They should understand company policies and know exactly what to do if a crime occurs. While most businesses discourage employees from directly intervening during an incident, many experts say that customer engagement can be a powerful deterrent. Simple actions—like greeting customers, offering assistance, or moving around the store regularly—can make it harder for bad actors to go unnoticed.

Advanced Video Analytics

Today’s security systems are more than just video cameras, alarms, and locks. Now leveraging advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), security systems can identify potential threats before they become serious problems. 

While in-store surveillance often gets the spotlight, complete site coverage needs to extend beyond the storefront and into the perimeter. Perimeter cameras or mobile security units paired with AI create a powerful combination for gathering data and spotting red flags. This tech can detect suspicious activity like unusual group gatherings, loitering, individuals carrying tools, or wearing hoods and masks that obscure their identity.

Advanced security analytics can also crunch video data to improve operations—from pinpointing overly congested areas that inform store layout and traffic flow changes to tracking shopping patterns over time. By understanding peak visitor times and common behaviors, businesses can staff more effectively and ensure they’re meeting customer needs.

Ensure Facility-Wide Security with LVT 

When it comes to combating holiday crime, there’s no single tool or strategy that does it all. The most effective security operations rely on a layered approach that combines cutting-edge technology, proven traditional methods, and active employee involvement. 

To see how LVT can help you build intelligent site security and ensure full coverage this holiday season and beyond, schedule a demo.