The British Red Cross has appointed a company to provide ‘mystery shoppers’ and security audits and training to help protect the charity’s 320 gift shops. The three-year contract follows a decade of work for the charity by Lodge Service, and now includes on-line reports on incidents and trends data for the charity’s managers and internal auditors. Lodge’s mystery shoppers cover all British Red Cross shops twice a year – 640 visits as far afield as Cornwall and Scottish isles – to provide feed-back on staff compliance with service standards and to detect security issues at point of sale. Criteria include the competency of shop staff in processing donated items; their knowledge of Red Cross activities when questioned in-store; and whether they invite customers to sign up for the Gift Aid scheme, which accounts for £1m of extra funding annually. The results are collated using a secure, on-line database, which the Red Cross can access to respond to incidents and monitor any trends that require management action. Lodge also supports the charity’s internal audit through regular checks in some 80 nominated shops to assess procedural compliance in operationally critical areas. These include store admin, cash control, and compliance with physical and personal security standards and health and safety. ‘Shrink awareness’ training workshops aim to help shop managers and key volunteers understand the causes of business loss. Some 500 staff have attended the annual events which include case studies on loss prevention, data on trends and practical tips on how to reduce vulnerability to losses and deal with suspected shop lifting.
Lodge Service also carries out covert investigations on a reactive basis where losses are suspected or staff may be failing to attend a store during opening hours, for example. Support can include telephone calls to the store or visits, to observe activity or make test purchases and monitor payment.
Miranda Bradley, retail development manager at the British Red Cross, says: “Lodge Service offers a very personalised and responsive service, reacting quickly to our needs. Their depth of experience in retail security, safety and compliance means they can offer excellent advice if we are dealing with a related problem. This includes consulting on potential risks from any new procedures we’re planning – looking ahead to recommend options for dealing with them safely within our internal systems and processes.”
