E-Learning (Decrease Shoplifting) for a Retail Chain Warehouse
Rathbone’s Emporium is facing a problem that is problematic for all retailers across Canada, which is the rise of shoplifting. Currently, the store has no training policy for employees on shoplifting.
Through action mapping and a needs assessment, the goal was determined to reduce shoplifting by twenty percent by 2025. For this to happen, employees must recognize the thirty-seven key behaviors of shoplifters and, using judgment, decide when to call a Code 10; however, within these judgment calls, loss prevention has determined several shoplifting behaviors that instantly warrant a Code 10. Since employees must use judgment calls and be able to recall many different factors, practice activities spaced out through different mediums were determined as key to project success. Furthermore, employees’ ability to utilize the behavior of smiling, making eye contact, and asking customers if they need assistance would factor into the project goal, as this employee behavior is known to drastically reduce shoplifting crime.
The training aims to decrease shoplifting by 20% by 2025 by utilizing employees’ ability to detect potential shoplifters within the store. Through a multiphased plan, the training goal is to bring awareness to the behaviors loss prevention has identified shoplifters exhibit. Because training asks for judgment calls from the employees, training must be spaced over many weeks, and constant refreshers must be utilized.
Rathbone’s Emporium employs a vast range of employees from ages sixteen to eighty-two. The education background for the employees is high school to graduate level. Rathbone’s employees are diverse and multi-cultural. With these considerations taken into effect, a multiphased plan would produce the best outcomes.
We will currently use their LMS to deploy the e-learning “Spot a Shoplifter” activity. Watershed will continue to be the LRS for xAPI tracking.
The plan is multifaceted, using different theories to improve outcomes since we are instructing employees on making judgment calls and reading body language on thirty-seven key characteristics that increase the chance the customer is a shoplifter. Furthermore, we are also instructing employees on the seven behaviors they might witness that warrant an instant Code 10 call.
Key Characteristics and Behaviors to Learn
Loss prevention identifies the following behaviors as key trends and patterns shoplifters exhibit. When employees notice two customer behaviors in List A, loss prevention wants a Code 10 called as the chance of shoplifting has risen to 85%. If one behavior is listed from List B, employees must instantly call a code 10.
List A – Two behaviors noticed to call a Code 10
1. Customer enters the store with bins, umbrellas (when it’s not raining) huge tote bags, backpacks, or other items that can be used to conceal merchandise.
2. Customer attempts to cover merchandise within the shopping cart.
3. Customer wears non-seasonal clothing, such as many layers of clothing when it is hot outside.
4. Customer takes large amounts of merchandise into the dressing room or bathroom.
5. Customer pulls shopping cart from the front while they shop.
6. Customer selects multiple expensive items.
7. Customer carries bulky packages, baby carriages, knitting bags, and other shopping bags.
8. Customer asks for a bunch of items behind the locked displays.
9. Customer wearing hoodies, baggie jeans, sunglasses, large hats, and scarves.
10. Customer enters the store in groups and then splits off.
11. Customer constantly monitoring employees.
12. Customer excessively sweating.
13. Customer takes a lot of interest in the ceiling.
14. Customer loiters in one spot.
15. Atypical customers.
16. Customer carrying around a pile of items without using a buggy.
17. Customer shopping just before closing or just after the store opens.
18. Customer who tries to make a quick exit.
19. Customer with lumps in clothing.
20. Customer that walks with an unnatural gait.
21. Customer that speeds through item selections with no thought of price.
22. Customer who avoids eye contact, fidgets, or otherwise appears nervous.
23. Customer who pays frequent visits to the store.
24. Customer who asks a lot of questions.
25. Customer who picks up items and replaces them repeatedly.
26. Customer who moves away from employees.
27. Customer buying large quantities of anything without concern for size, style, color, or price
28. Customer not asking about or ignoring the fact that free delivery is offered for large items.
29. Customer who completes a purchase and instantly returns to make more purchases.
List B – INSTANT CODE 10
30. Customer whose eyes don’t look at what their hands are doing.
31. Customer who enters the fitting room with merchandise but leaves without it.
32. Customers with razor blades, X-acto knives, pocket knives.
33. Customer has a bag lined with foil.
34. Customer who swaps price stickers
35. Customer who moves products to different packaging.
36. Customer who is hostile to employees.
37. Customer attempting to distract or rush employees at checkout.
It is important to note for this report that each of the above types of behavior can have a perfectly reasonable explanation that has nothing to do with fraud.
Instructional Campaign in Detail (Only Part Three Listed Below)
Part Three
Within part one of the plan, employees were notified that Rathbone’s Emporium has a game to help them identify shoplifters and increase their observation skills. Our office will create this e-learning gamification activity to help employees make judgment calls on customer behavior based on our action mapping activity with five store loss prevention managers (see below). It will be a choose-your-own-adventure, enabling employees to see and practice their ability to call an effective Code 10.
The game will have 15 tiles representing two of each shoplifting profile and a randomized tile that changes based on how many times the employee has logged in. These tiles correspond to the banners employees will see on Wall 1 of the employee break room in the coming weeks.
Training will only be assigned to employees working with customers within the store daily. Employees will have a one-time thirty-minute slot allotted to them per month. The timeline for deployment is listed in the Appendices D.
The e-learning game can be utilized by employees at least five times, if need be, for training purposes without boredom because of the many branching scenarios offered.
As stated previously, employees are being asked by Rathbone’s Emporium to make judgment calls and read behavioral clues from a vast range of people, including people of different cultures. It is important for employees to practice this skill through a range of activities, and it will be a skill that needs to be continually refreshed as they are being called upon to keep many different factors in their minds but might never have witnessed one. On top of that, they must call upon their judgment to know the seven behaviors that customers might exhibit that warrant an instant Code 10.
Purpose of Part Three
The purpose of the e-learning game is to allow employees to practice different scenarios and witness their actions in a safe environment. This format is ideal for the vast ranges of ages and experience levels, which coincides with the information gained from human resources of current employees.
For employees who currently have good judgment skills, they will be rewarded with the challenge of detecting the shoplifter. They will be exempt from month three of training. Those who have fewer judgment skills will be taught the signs to look out for and provided with contextual lessons to help them learn how to identify behaviors indicative of shoplifters.
Currently, Rathbone’s Emporium employs X00 hundred employees under the age of eighteen, which transcribes to X% of these employees being on the floor at any one time. These employees will be targeted with more information in the contextual feedback area, than older employees.
Furthermore, Rathbone’s Emporium has XX% of customers from other cultures on any given day within the store; therefore, all employees need to learn that not all cultures behave similarly as an employee might expect simply because of our multi-cultural clientele.
Microsoft products were used to create wordage and send communications.
Graphics were created in Adobe Photoshop.
The storyboard was created in Adobe InDesign.
The course was created in Adobe Captivate Classic.
Evaluation will be multifaceted and cover all four Kirkpatrick’s levels. However, for this particular e-learning, the evaluation will be as follows.
Level 1
Employees will take a 3-5 minute survey upon completing their first practice activity. This will be a pen-and-paper survey, and it will be handed to them when they enter the training room. Employees will be asked to complete it and place it in the evaluation box when they have completed the e-learning training.
Level 2
Using xAPI analytics, our office will monitor the overall data to determine the degree to which employees pick the correct scenarios. xAPI data can track data down to the minuscule level, and this will allow our office to determine any gaps that might surface, allowing us to adapt and change any scenarios within the second month of training. We anticipate a high degree of employee engagement and exploration as they work through the practice activities; therefore, we believe some of the data we receive from xAPI will not clearly show learning outcomes within the first month.
Data Collection Method
All data will be collected using xAPI, with Watershed being the LRS. This allows our office to track employees and their choices to any level, as statements will be built throughout the practice activities. These analytics can be unpacked to a minuscule level and help us target the judgment calls utilized to help create more engaging and effective learning mini-scenarios in 7taps and tailor our e-learning for months two and three, if need be.
Furthermore, once analytics have been captured on the second attempt at the e-learning game, our office will inform the employees correctly working through 85% of the branching scenarios that they do not have to take the last e-learning module as it will be cost-effective to exempt them from training as they exhibit the ability to read shoplifter behaviors at the desired level as determined in our action mapping session.
There is audio at the beginning and end of the course. The first slide has a handful of branching scenarios in both directions to try. The other slides are the visuals of the different branching scenarios.
This is best viewed on a desktop. It was not built in a responsive design.
You must sign onto the LMS before you can access the course because a public access point was created for you to view it. You will then have to input that same information on the beginning screen of the course.
If you get a “Popup Blocked” notice, just click “Launch Course.”
* The images are cut off unless one views them from a desktop.*
Some of the images from the course.