Using ‘Smart’ Padlocks for Stock Security

If you run a retail business, keeping your stock secure is likely to be one of your main concerns. Whether you sell your products from a physical shop, online or both, being able to be sure that your unsold items are safe is critical to your business, and how you do this can also affect how much you have to pay for insurance.

stock security

There are many ways you can use modern technology to help look after your goods, such as wireless CCTV and a good alarm system, but these are not new things. In the latest wave of ‘making everything connected‘, there are actually some pretty useful security devices for stock security in the form of high tech, smart padlocks, and these are considered by many to be an innovation more and more businesses will begin making use of in 2015.

What Are the Features That Make High Security Padlocks Good for Retail Businesses?

The latest incarnation of the high security padlock has a wealth of features that can make stock security much easier. While serving, as you might expect, as a regular padlock that can keep doors, boxes and crates secure in the conventional way, a smart padlock offers a bunch of functionality that improves security dramatically. The most advanced smart padlocks actually have GPS features that allow them to know their exact location. This means that alerts can be configured to tell you if your lock has been moved. When used on your stock, this can be used not only to indicate when something is stolen in real time (so you can take immediate action), but also to track the whereabouts of goods that are in transit.

These features are highly configurable, so you can be alerted when the lock is moved, or ask for specific alerts when something enters a specific area, so you can track its progress when in transit.

Anti Tampering Technology

Smart locks also contain things to help identify when the lock is being tampered with. Technology used in these gadgets can inform you when the lock has been struck and taken an impact (for instance if someone tries to break it), or even when it is moved around (for instance if someone is trying to inspect it or pick it). Using its ability to communicate with you via your phone or computer, the lock can notify you of these things as and when they happen so you can investigate or alert the police right away, but because these alerts are so highly configurable, you can avoid annoying ‘false flags’ by switching them off when you know what is happening to the stock with the lock on (for instance if people in your warehouse are working and may move it).

Adding smart padlocks to your general stock security can allow you to monitor and protect specific items or entry points to your stock facilities. Using them on things that are in transit can also give you real time information on goods that are being shipped, making these a very good innovation for all kinds of retail businesses.

image source: Lynn Friedman

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