Retailers Curb Shoplifting With Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS)
Grocery store chain Nash Finch's new EAS systems have decreased theft and reorder rates. Better yet, the systems have also increased profits.
Even shoplifters these days are becoming technology savvy. Grocery chain Nash Finch's director of asset management Dan Smith has the video surveillance tape to prove it. After a recent EAS (electronic article surveillance) installation in the grocery chain, Smith and store managers began to notice that shoplifters recognized EAS pedestals at the store entrance/exit. The most famous incident has since provided Smith and colleagues with many a good laugh.
"We had a gentleman who had put a very large bag of candy down the front of his pants," snickers Smith. "Just before passing through the door, he noticed the EAS pedestals — it stopped him dead in his tracks. He stood there teetering, his circling hands outstretched. He looked like someone on the edge of a cliff trying to catch his balance."
The incident is funny, but the shoplifting is not. Even $3.6 billion Nash Finch was feeling the financial bumps and bruises of shoplifting. The 30-state, 120-chain operation was having a pervasive problem with the theft of such items as cigarettes and alcohol. The company needed a quick and inexpensive solution.
Defining Retail Needs, Choosing A Vendor
Although solid theft deterrent systems have, in the past, been scarce, integrated technologies are offering new hope, namely EAS. Nash Finch began looking for a shoplifting remedy in 1997. The company needed needed tags that were small enough to slip under a box cover. Many vendors of EAS solutions offered products that worked comparably. But, most tags were too large, covering box-top ingredient lists and directions. Nash Finch also needed a tag that would work on beverages in aluminum cans. These needs led the company to Boca Raton, FL-based Sensormatic, provider of electronic security solutions.
EAS System Turns Quick ROI (Return On Investment)
Nash Finch has approached installation of the EAS systems on a store-by-store basis. The first such system was piloted in one grocery store roughly two years ago; it paid for itself within three months. "We tagged 120 high-theft items in that store," remembers Smith. "The reorder rate for those items decreased, and the profit and sales increased. The reason was simple: people weren't walking out with those products anymore."
Based on that success, Nash Finch expanded the EAS system to three additional stores. Each store was fitted with pedestals, or antennae devices, that detect EAS tags. Then, the tags are placed on designated products. If people pay for the products at the POS (point of sale) checkout, the tags are deactivated. If not, the pedestals pick up unpaid items as people try to leave the store with them. Unlike RFID technology, EAS does not offer unique identification. It can't tell you the specific product someone is stealing, only that someone is stealing something. Most retailers will happily accept that identification.
EAS Sends The Message: Shoplifters Go Home
Nash Finch now installs EAS systems in all new and remodeled stores. When asked if he plans on upgrades and additional installations, Smith responds, "Without doubt." Smith is currently considering a programmable label machine that puts EAS labels directly onto packages of meat. Although meat isn't a high-theft item, like tobacco or alcohol, Smith anticipates the same payback he experienced with the Sensormatic installation.
The EAS system at Nash Finch has created a new kind of shopper, one that abruptly turns around at the door and wanders through the store to replace stolen items to their proper shelf space. It's not the ideal scenario, but it's better than shoplifters who get away. As for the infamous shoplifter who has become the epitome of Nash Finch's new shopping demographic — the candy man… "Well, we invited him to never come back," says Smith. "We also threw away the bag of candy he put down his pants."
Doug Campbell
Even shoplifters these days are becoming technology savvy. Grocery chain Nash Finch's director of asset management Dan Smith has the video surveillance tape to prove it. After a recent EAS (electronic article surveillance) installation in the grocery chain, Smith and store managers began to notice that shoplifters recognized EAS pedestals at the store entrance/exit. The most famous incident has since provided Smith and colleagues with many a good laugh.
"We had a gentleman who had put a very large bag of candy down the front of his pants," snickers Smith. "Just before passing through the door, he noticed the EAS pedestals — it stopped him dead in his tracks. He stood there teetering, his circling hands outstretched. He looked like someone on the edge of a cliff trying to catch his balance."
The incident is funny, but the shoplifting is not. Even $3.6 billion Nash Finch was feeling the financial bumps and bruises of shoplifting. The 30-state, 120-chain operation was having a pervasive problem with the theft of such items as cigarettes and alcohol. The company needed a quick and inexpensive solution.
Defining Retail Needs, Choosing A Vendor
Although solid theft deterrent systems have, in the past, been scarce, integrated technologies are offering new hope, namely EAS. Nash Finch began looking for a shoplifting remedy in 1997. The company needed needed tags that were small enough to slip under a box cover. Many vendors of EAS solutions offered products that worked comparably. But, most tags were too large, covering box-top ingredient lists and directions. Nash Finch also needed a tag that would work on beverages in aluminum cans. These needs led the company to Boca Raton, FL-based Sensormatic, provider of electronic security solutions.
EAS System Turns Quick ROI (Return On Investment)
Nash Finch has approached installation of the EAS systems on a store-by-store basis. The first such system was piloted in one grocery store roughly two years ago; it paid for itself within three months. "We tagged 120 high-theft items in that store," remembers Smith. "The reorder rate for those items decreased, and the profit and sales increased. The reason was simple: people weren't walking out with those products anymore."
Based on that success, Nash Finch expanded the EAS system to three additional stores. Each store was fitted with pedestals, or antennae devices, that detect EAS tags. Then, the tags are placed on designated products. If people pay for the products at the POS (point of sale) checkout, the tags are deactivated. If not, the pedestals pick up unpaid items as people try to leave the store with them. Unlike RFID technology, EAS does not offer unique identification. It can't tell you the specific product someone is stealing, only that someone is stealing something. Most retailers will happily accept that identification.
EAS Sends The Message: Shoplifters Go Home
Nash Finch now installs EAS systems in all new and remodeled stores. When asked if he plans on upgrades and additional installations, Smith responds, "Without doubt." Smith is currently considering a programmable label machine that puts EAS labels directly onto packages of meat. Although meat isn't a high-theft item, like tobacco or alcohol, Smith anticipates the same payback he experienced with the Sensormatic installation.
The EAS system at Nash Finch has created a new kind of shopper, one that abruptly turns around at the door and wanders through the store to replace stolen items to their proper shelf space. It's not the ideal scenario, but it's better than shoplifters who get away. As for the infamous shoplifter who has become the epitome of Nash Finch's new shopping demographic — the candy man… "Well, we invited him to never come back," says Smith. "We also threw away the bag of candy he put down his pants."
Doug Campbell
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