The evolution of modern retail stores, especially in grocery, has seen the development of wide and open entrance and exit points to create welcoming and freely accessible spaces for the consumer. Sadly, this approach also has negative consequences, not least creating new opportunities for shop theft to occur, including offenders simply walking out with a basket, cart or trolley full of goods they have not paid for. In response to this threat, companies have developed interventions to try and help retailers not only identify when this type of theft is happening, but also put in place mechanisms to reduce the incidence.

In order to understand not only the scale and extent of the problem of trolley push-out thefts, but also evaluate the impact of one of these trolley based technologies, Professor Beck carried out a detailed assessment of the experience of two UK grocery retailers using the Gatekeeper Purchek technology. The study looked at data from over 370 stores installations covering three-14 week periods of data collection, as well as a detailed review of over 900 incidents.

In this session, Professor Beck shared the results from this study, including an estimation of the scale and extent of the problem, a profile of the types of offenders engaging in push-out thefts, and a calculation of the expected ROI from utilisation of the Purchek technology.

This session is one of the many working group meetings held throughout the year. These sessions are for retailers, CPGs and academics only. If you would like to register for future sessions click here. If you would like to apply for a recording of this session click apply.