The Global Retail Theft Barometer reported that petty crime, such as shoplifting or employee theft, made up more than 70 percent of global shrinkage in 2009.
With further industry reports for 2009 noting that shrink grew significantly across the board with a staggering 50 percent of worldwide retailers experiencing an increase of shrinkage*, retailers - in the most most price-sensitive market are often struggling to allocate funding for security systems.

Indeed, most retailers know the benefits but simply cannot afford available solutions. In many cases, the cost of all the security equipment needed surpasses the entire security department’s budget. However, as prices for IP-based equipment continue to drop, the market is now seeing increased adoption and with the added benefits of network solutions (people counting, customer flow analysis, store planning / evaluation etc), systems which can bridge gaps between available technology, its capabilities and the general retailer’s awareness about the effectiveness of advanced loss prevention are looking to be the way forward.

Intrance's Orion3 application is a point in case and has been utilised across a number of key sectors including retail and most recently financial, where it underwent something of a transformation to meet a specific set of criteria for use in cash management operations for a major security services supplier.

Businesses are benefitting from ready-made applications with added functionality that enable them to minimise loss, improve merchandising, effectiveness, increase staff security and improve the bottom line.

If you'd like to learn more about Orion3, visit our product page or if you'd prefer to talk to us direct we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Call us on +44(0) 114 270 2478 and let us help you manage your shrink.

 
*Frost & Sullivan

Is it time to replace that website of yours?

With web coding standards moving to HTML 5, and browsers evolving to meet these new specifications, many companies might well be taking a look at their current websites and wondering 'Should I take this opportunity to make some changes?' Indeed, new technologies can cause the appearance of older websites to be altered, resulting in users not seeing what quite what is intended.
As any business moves forward, their website should reflect this. With the advent of social networking and mature blogging, there's even more pressure to keep online presences fresh.

Why then, are companies often resistant when it comes to rebuilding their websites?

Investment
A fully functional website, which might encompass everything from e-commerce to blogging and social networking can be a costly proposition for any business. However, a website should be considered an investment, and with any investment, it is the return that gives it value. A website is there to attract customers, and bring them back for return business.
After such an investment has been made, it is sometimes very hard for companies to take another look at the site at a later date. It is human nature to resist replacing something that will involve a large investment of time and money, even if just adding to it would cost more. The idea that spending more money to try and fix something that is not working as it used to, even if it is not exactly what is wanted, is easier to accept than writing it off and starting from scratch.

Look at it this way...
What if your kettle stopped working, and the repair would come to £20, but a new one would only cost £15. No question, buy the new one, yes? However, a third kettle is available, this one has a shorter boil time, has a price tag of £25 AND matches your toaster. Would you have the old one repaired, or would it be worth the extra to get the new features you want along with the manufacturers warranty?
It is the same with websites, older sites are increasingly harder to maintain and it can be difficult to add new features. A patch may be cheaper initially, but turn out to be a more expensive decision in the long term.

Where do you go from here?
Take a good look at your website, does it still do what you need it to do? If not, what would make more economic sense? An update or a replacement?

Our e-mail marketing software 'mailbeanz' launches today!

Honed to perfection, we've created the perfect online marketing solution for companies that want to take their e-mail marketing campaigns to the next level and maximise their returns.

With customisable templates and bespoke designs also available you can easily add your own content, subject line, email address and then preview your email live.
Easily import your databases, filter your subscribers or manually enter email addresses. We'll handle the business of unsubscribes and bounces automatically and even add sign-up forms (for newsletters etc) to your website.
Real-time results as people open your e-mail and click on your links. Measure the success of your e-mail campaign (compare the effectiveness of subject lines, messages and links) and see who has opened which links and when - track subscribers, links and clicking habits to plan targeted email marketing campaigns.

With new research predicting that e-mail marketing likely to be one of the top areas for business investment this year, its clear that the global business community regards the web as one of the single most marketing channels available; one that no serious business can afford to ignore.

If you like to find out more about mailbeanz, visit our product page here or visit www.mailbeanz.com to sign up for you free account.

Recently, we've been busy updating our own e-mail management software system and have had time to listen to some of our customers views on their e-mail plans as we see more and more businesses abandon direct mail in favour of email marketing.

Whilst new tools such as Twitter, Blogging and RSS are being touted as "the new e-mail" its become apparent that they actually haven't supplanted e-mail but are instead, increasing its importance.
With e-mail acting as the 'hub' of our digital lives, hooking web apps back into this hub makes it more likely to be used than not (and all the while increasing e-mail's standalone importance), so we've taken our e-mail management system to the next level and will shortly be launching it alongside our other core products as an easy to use, fully manageable, end-to-end e-mail marketing solution.

Watch this space (and those little guys!)…