American Apparel's EAS Audit Surprises

January 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Bob Johns, associate editor

EAS audit and training programs allow American Apparel to reduce external theft exposure up to 70%.

Like most retailers today, American Apparel is always concerned with external shrink. The company had implemented an EAS system, but, like many retailers, its shrink numbers were still growing. Finding a real solution to its in-stock position issues, discrepancies in the back room and sales floor inventories, and external theft issues became a priority for American Apparel’s new director of asset protection, Blue Montez, and his team.

American Apparel is a garment manufacturer and retailer operating in 20 different countries with more than $500M in annual revenue. Montez joined the asset protection team early in 2011 and aided in its effort to uncover the root of the retailer’s shrink issue. First, the team had to find a way to enhance the accountability of the current EAS system for a company that has more than 10,000 employees in 251 worldwide locations. Indeed, they needed to determine if the store associates were using the existing EAS system properly.