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We visited stores like Walmart and Home Depot to see how they are tackling the industry's $95 billion shoplifting problem. We found an alarming amount of locked up items with security cameras watching every aisle.https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/we-visited-stores-like-walmart-and-home-depot-to-see-how-they-are-tackling-the-industryaposs-95-billion-shoplifting-problem-we-found-an-alarming-amount-of-locked-up-items-with-security-cameras-watching-every-aisle-/slidelist/97347174.cms2023-01-26T16:47:48+05:30

We visited stores like Walmart and Home Depot to see how they are tackling the industry's $95 billion shoplifting problem. We found an alarming amount of locked up items with security cameras watching every aisle.

Ben Tobin,Dominick ReuterJan 26, 2023, 16:47 IST

Industry groups say retail theft has become a $94.5 billion problem.

And organized retail crime has skyrocketed and exacerbated retailers' problems, according to theft prevention experts.

Leaders at major retailers nationwide, like Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, have sounded the alarm, saying that stores will close and/or prices will rise if theft doesn't slow down.

We visited several big-box stores in the Midwest to see how retailers are approaching anti-theft measures.

Walmart installed a mobile surveillance "lot cop" in a parking lot in a store in Louisville, Kentucky, to try to scare away shoplifters.

Surveillance continued into the store, with signs warning customers that there are "security cameras in use" and "reducing theft helps us all by keeping prices low."

Like other retailers, Walmart locked many items, like beauty and electronics, behind glass doors, requiring customers to get an employee to retrieve products for them.

The store also locked a plethora of items in plastic boxes, requiring them to be removed at check out.

Walmart covered items throughout the store with spider wrap alarms, which will sound off if an item is stolen from a store.

Spider wraps were also a common sight at a Target near Madison, Wisconsin.

Bundles of loose wraps were kept in a restocking cart to be added to merchandise before putting it on the shelf.

A video game display at Target used a tether to let shoppers look at a title, but required staff assistance to get a copy from a locker in order to buy it.

Most personal care items were available on the shelf at Target, but Plan B emergency contraceptive pills were placed in security boxes.

Elsewhere in Target's beauty section, the only items with security RF tags were fake eyelashes and press-on nails.

Target protects its shopping carts with a cart retrieval system made by Gatekeeper Systems.

An estimated 2 million shopping carts are stolen each year, costing retailers an estimated $800 million.

At a Home Depot in Madison, Wisconsin, one of several security cameras monitoring the front entrance showed shoppers that they were on camera.

Household electrical fuses were hung on twist-release displays, which make it harder to pull several off the rack at once.

Higher-priced power tools were locked in merchandise cages at Home Depot, though it wasn't indicated whether a purchase was needed to activate them.

A padlock on a merchandise cage reminded store workers at Home Depot to personally bring items to the checkout.

Some battery packs that were locked in cages were also tagged with RF devices at Home Depot.

But application of security tags was a bit inconsistent across the store.

Home Depot also used locks and non-working units to display items, like these nail guns.

At a Lowe's in Louisville, Kentucky, power tools on display were protected with small alarms from Swiss company Pataco.

With other items like leaf blowers, the store had less intense anti-theft measures, using traditional locks to keep them safe.

Lowe's also locked away many of its items, particularly power tools, behind caged doors...

... and announced an initiative this year where some power tools won't work unless activated while being purchased.

Lowe's also had security cameras on several of its power tool aisles.

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