I was in the Pool! I was in the Pool!

Who can forget the “shrinkage” episode from Seinfeld.  Nationally renown SEO Consultant Leon Altman used to comment:  ”There is television ……  and then there is Seinfeld.”

Classic Television at its best! George also happens to be one of  The Merchant Maven’s  favorite characters.

Retail Shrinkage : No Laughing Matter

In my past life, I was the director of marketing for several regional and super regional shopping centers. In this industry, the shrinkage factor is not a subject that retailers find amusing.

Merchants would consistently lament about two things: A decrease in sales volume and  the high cost of shrinkage -  Which is the amount of merchandise that exits your store without being paid for. It can be shoppers or employees that can influence this  -  shoplifters or employee theft, that is.

Shrinkage Management

Effective management of shrinkage allows the price of items to stay relatively low for consumers while taking in the appropriate amount of profit. A lot of retail store owners think that in order to put a stop to or control shrinkage they must first buy an expensive surveillance system, which is not true.  There are some companies that offer full surveillance for under $2,500.  One of the more popular ones today is XANBOO.com

DTI and Xanboo Help Fight Shrinkage at the Cash Register

In July of 2008, Direct Technology Innovations (DTI) and Xanboo launched a new initiative  to help fight shrinkage by providing America’s businesses with a state of the art video monitoring platform. This unique platform also allows for remote temperature monitoring and lighting control.

What’s really neat about Xanboo is that you can monitor your cash register, front door, backdoor from your blackberry or hand held device. It’s really convenient, seamless and has proven to affect shrinkage! It’s also not a bad idea if you want to see what your maid or dog sitter is up to while you’re away.

DTI (directtec.com) is a highly successful innovator offering a variety of merchant payment solutions. Powered by an AT&T Remote Monitoring system, Xanboo (xanboo.com) provides monitoring devices that help customers stay connected with their businesses or homes while they are away. The new service, which is available nationwide, enables customers to use both personal computers and wireless devices to access high-quality, streaming digital video and other real-time data and information from their homes and businesses – at virtually any time and from anywhere.

Xanboo’s patented technology enables access and control of devices locally via a TV or PC, and remotely over the Internet via a mobile phone or PC. Video monitoring of point of sale cash registers, the sales floor and inventory helps to control shrinkage, reduce costs and improves the bottom line. Business owners can connect from remote locations to a gateway in the home or business and monitor devices from anywhere in the world via a standard web interface.

Xanboo’s technology is market agnostic and provides a platform to a wide range of partners wishing to deliver services based upon video monitoring, device control, notification or data transmission, to any location with Internet access.

Bill Diamond, CEO of Xanboo says: ” We are excited about working with Direct Technology Innovations, a leader in the credit card processing industry. We have been looking for an established company to work with in this niche for some time, and we feel that together we can grow this market.”

According to Michael Slominski, Direct Technology Innovations Vice President of Sales: ” In creating this relationship with Xanboo , we are offering yet another value added service to our client roster, which includes some of the world’s best known restaurants and retailers.” DTI currently provides credit card processing services to Subway, Winestyles, Gray Line, Great Wraps, Salad Creations and other prominent chains and retail establishments.

Now DTI can also help merchants everywhere help reduce shrinkage.

Merchants and Business Owners can check out www.directtec.com and look for the tab that says Xanboo.

The Merchant Maven