CVS, Walmart, Target's cure worse than their shoplifting problem

Most Americans don’t shoplift. In fact, the vast majority of shoppers pay for all of their items and want to have the easiest experience possible.

The problem, of course, is that some people do shoplift and their numbers have arguably increased due to the rise in retailer's using self-checkout It appears that some otherwise honest people perhaps don't make a full effort to scan every item at self-checkout.

Some get missed in a way where the person committing the crime has plausible deniability that their actions were a mistake.

“Self-checkout promises labor savings and convenience, but when we look at the data, we find that self-checkout instead leads to problematic understaffing that sets up both workers and customers for toxic interactions,” said Daniel Schneider, Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-director of the Shift Project.

In addition, self-checkout makes it easier to steal, according to data from eMarketer.

Self-checkout leads to more theft:

Over two-thirds (69%) of US consumers think self-checkout systems make it easier to steal items.
15% of self-checkout users have purposely stolen an item when using the technology, though that number rises to 21% among millennials and 31% of Gen Zers.
The average self-reported value of stolen goods is $60.

In addition to self-checkout theft, retailers like Target, CVS, and Walmart also have to deal with old-school shoplifting. That has led to a solution that drives consumers away from stores.

Target has placed limits on self-checkout in many stores.

Image source: Shutterstock

Locked-up merchandise drives consumers away

Last winter, I walked into a CVS in New York needing a fairly decent selection of toiletries as I had left my travel bag at home. I put a couple of items into my cart and then pushed the button near the eye drops, to summon a person to unlock them for me.

Once that happened, I then went looking for razors, which were locked up, as were many of the others items I needed. Not looking to spend my time pressing buttons and waiting for workers to free my purchases, I paid for what I had gathered and ordered the rest of what I needed through Uber Eats.

It cost me more, but the rise in price was worth the savings of frustration.

More Retail:

Locked up items have become more common and consumers are noticing them, according to a new report, Unlocking Shopper Reactions to Secured Products, from Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space.

The report had some interesting findings:

60% of shoppers report seeing locked-up merchandise on a regular basis. Among shoppers who encounter locked-up products, 28% report seeing them every time they shop, 32% see them sometimes, and 29% see them often. Only 11% of shoppers say they rarely see locked-up products.
Shoppers are noticing more locked-up products than ever before. 61% of shoppers reported seeing an increase in the number of products under lock and key over the past year.
Shoppers most often see locked-up items at drug stores and mass retailers. The stores where consumers see the most product lock-ups are mass retailers (68% of consumers), drug stores (62%), grocery stores (31%), department stores (25%), and home improvement stores (23%). Dollar stores (18%) see the lowest levels of lock-ups.

Locking up items makes it harder for customers to steal them, but that comes at a price,

Many shoppers walk away from locked up merchandise

Retail stores run on tight margins and a few percentage points could easily be the difference between a viable location and a money-losing one. Locking up items may make it easier for stores to track easy-to-steal (or not scan) smaller items, but the locked cabinets are sending customers away.

“More than a quarter of shoppers say a retailer loses their purchase when items are locked up,”

Over 60% of shoppers will “typically wait for assistance when they encounter locked up merchandise, and 9% say they order the item online from that same retailer. However, 17% say they will switch retailers (10% online, 7% in-store), and 10% say they will abandon the purchase altogether.,” according to the report.

That's a lot of people walking away from purchases and a ton of money not being spent in stores locking up merchandise.

Locking up merchandise may cut down on theft, since the store knows which items have been taken off the shelves, but the cost may be too high.

“Shoppers who are not willing to wait for assistance when encountering a locked-up product spend 21% of their dollars online, compared to 18% for those who are willing to wait,” the study of 5,000 consumers in September 2024.who made verified purchases shared.