Big Change Coming to 108 Illinois Target Stores to Stop Theft

If you have worked any length of time in retail, you know theft is one of the biggest dangers to survival of a business. Target knows this and has announced a big change that will likely affect all 108 stores in Illinois if it hasn't already.

Yahoo Finance just shared details of a phone call that reporters had with Target CFO and COO Michael Fiddelke. He believes the company has solved or at least greatly reduced retail theft. There is one key change he believes has helped them turn around what they call "shrink".

The article says Target's profits were impacted by retail theft to the tune of $700 million dollars just 2 years ago. That led to the closure of 9 stores last October. What has made the difference to reduce theft in Target stores? They have greatly increased the number of locked cases for what they call "prone to theft merchandise". 

A corporate press release from Target says they've taken other measures to try and reduce theft which they say includes training of their security staff. Target says they are  "adding more security team members, using third-party guard services, and implementing theft-deterrent tools across our business". They also are "implementing tools such as locking cases for merchandise categories that are prone to theft" and "training our store leaders and security team members so they can protect themselves and de-escalate potential safety issues".

If you go into one of the 108 Target stores in Illinois and suddenly see more locked cases, this is why. It's an effort to reduce theft and keep those stores profitable and open.