Running a small business is hard enough — you shouldn’t have to constantly worry about the security of your quilt shop and everyone in it.
Whether it's a data breach or external theft, there are many security issues to be aware of — and keeping your store secure is one of the most important things you can do. It helps build confidence in your quilt shop and helps your customers feel safe.
In this blog, we’ll explore seven best practices when it comes to quilt shop security, so you can protect your business and your customers.
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of store security is likely the protection of your physical location. This is because it’s important to keep your customers, your employees, and yourself safe.
One of the best ways to keep your business safe is to set up cameras around your quilt shop — both inside and outside. Not only does this make it easier to see if someone has stolen something after the fact, but it also proactively deters shoplifters and other threats.
You should have strong magnetic locks on every door. This makes it much more difficult for people to break in. If you have employees, only hand out keys to people who absolutely need them, so you know who’s opening and locking up at all times.
Lastly, install an easy-to-use alarm system in your store. This is another way to detract thieves — especially after hours. Most alarm systems quickly trigger a police response, so you can minimize as much damage as possible.
Any physical safety measure you take in your store will help build confidence with your customers. Plus, you can go into work everyday knowing that you’re completely safe and secure.
Related Read: How To Start a Fabric Store Online: 8 Simple Steps
An employee management system simplifies your quilt shop security, because you don’t have to constantly keep track of all of your employees by yourself. A solid system keeps track of all of their duties and permissions for you.
Regularly perform employee management system audits to keep your permissions up to date. You should always add and remove employees from your system as they come and go.
In addition to having an employee management system, you should conduct background checks on your new employees to ensure your quilt shop’s safety.
Stay up to date on your employee training, too. Simply training your employees on how to handle cash and how to deal with physical security issues can save your quilt shop and keep everyone inside of it safe.
Related Read: From Hobby Into a Business: How To Know If It’s The Right Move
Along with employee safety and your store’s physical security, make sure you’re protecting your store’s data. A point of sale (POS) system stores all of your store's transactional information — and if you have an all-in-one POS, it will also store your customers’ and employees’ information.
You don’t want this data to be leaked or stolen. The simplest way to secure your quilt shop’s software is to use unique passwords — you can’t make your password quiltshop1234. Your password needs to be more unique than that. For example, Google gives secure passwords with random characters to ensure optimal security.
Generally, you should change your password every three months so that your system doesn’t get hacked. This might seem like a lot, but always err on the side of caution when it comes to your quilt shop’s security.
You should also limit access to sensitive data through permissions. Just like giving your physical quilt store’s key to only those who need it, you should also only give data access to the employees who absolutely need it. Simply put, if your employee never uses certain functionalities, don’t give them access.
Lastly, you need to regularly update your software. Your POS provider should regularly update your software, so you have the safest POS system possible. If these updates don’t happen automatically, update them manually.
Related Read: The Best Fabric Store POS System To Run Your Store: 3 Options
It’s not enough to just keep your POS system secure. You need to take extra measures to secure your customer data, too.
First, use secure methods for payment processing. If you aren’t using a cloud-based POS system, you should make the switch. Manual and non-cloud based POS systems just aren’t as secure because data can get lost or hardware can break down.
It’s also important to encrypt your customer’s data. Data encryption is a way to keep your sensitive data extremely secure by converting it into a code that can only be read by authorized users. It’s an extra step to ensure your customer’s safety and security — and, in turn, your quilt shop’s security.
You also need to comply with data protection laws and regulations. For example, payment card industry (PCI) compliance gives set standards for how to handle customers’ credit card data.
If you’re using a POS system and updating it regularly, you should be in compliance — but you should always stay up to date with new regulations, so you can double-check that your customer’s data is being handled properly.
There’s no quilt shop security without the protection of your customer’s data. Taking all safety measures into account ensures that your customers' data is safe and that you’re legally protected.
Related Read: How To Create the Perfect Retail Store Layout
Chances are, even though your quilt shop is physically secured, you’ll still have to deal with shoplifters. This is why closely managing your quilt shop’s inventory is important.
Like your POS system, you want to keep your inventory management system on the cloud to protect your data. The best option is to have your POS and inventory management systems running from the same software.
Keeping a close eye on your inventory helps ensure that all of your quilt store’s products are being paid for and not stolen. An inventory management system allows you to track your inventory in real time.
If there’s a discrepancy between what your inventory management system says and what you actually have, you’ll want to check your cameras and ask your employees if they’ve seen anything.
Have a procedure in place in case this happens so that you and your employees can act immediately. Remember: Just because there’s a discrepancy doesn’t mean that there were shoplifters — but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Related Read: Managing Fabric Store Inventory: 7 Common Mistakes To Avoid
In addition to securing your software, you want to make sure you’re secure online. This includes your social media, your website, and even your work email.
You need to regularly educate yourself and your employees about internet safety. Hackers will try to get information from you via email and social media. A good rule of thumb is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
You should also implement SSL certificates for your quilt shop’s website. This ensures security for your quilt shop’s sensitive online data.
An online presence for your quilt shop is necessary because shopping online is now a standard — which means there are more ways to hack your store’s data. This shouldn’t steer you away from starting a website or social media, but you need to take all of the necessary precautions.
Related Read: 6 Reasons Customers Still Want Online AND Offline
Even after all of these steps, there still might be ways for people to shoplift or hack your quilt store — which is why you need a crisis management plan in place.
Creating a crisis management plan doesn’t have to be too difficult. Make sure you have one in place before something happens, so that you and your team are ready to deal with the issue at hand.
The most important thing to know is that if something does happen, it can almost always be dealt with and fixed. Rest assured that if you have a plan in place and prioritize your quilt shop’s security, your store can go on and be successful.
Related Read: 5 Essential Retail Policies That Will Help Your Business Succeed
Like Sew is an all-in-one POS system that’s built specifically for quilt and fabric shops. In addition to offering payment processing capabilities, this industry-specific software has inventory and employee management capabilities.
When it comes to quilt shop security, Like Sew is the perfect software to keep all of your data safe. Plus, it’s a cloud-based system that’s constantly updated to keep up with compliance and security standards.
So, whether you’re making a new security plan for your existing quilt store, or you’re opening a new shop, remember these seven quilt shop security tips:
And remember: Like Sew is the perfect tool to keep you, your employees, and your customers safe and secure. Schedule a demo today to see how Like Sew can take your quilt shop security to the next level.