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Tesco has implemented a significant change in 50 of its stores to combat shoplifting. The supermarket giant has installed keypad-operated cabinets in the alcohol aisles of an additional 50 stores, specifically for champagne and other sparkling wines.
These in-aisle cabinets are locked and can be accessed by customers via a keypad. An alarm will sound if the chiller door is left open for more than seven seconds.
Managed by Wanzl, these cabinets were initially trialled in some stores in 2023 before being expanded to more locations last summer. At present, 22 Tesco stores, including two smaller Express outlets, have these cabinets.
Last year’s models required customers to use a digital touchscreen and complete a “four-step process” to unlock them. Initially, customers had to tap an arrow on the screen to access the goods, followed by a second screen indicating that it was “processing the request”.
After this, the cabinet door would open, allowing customers to select their items. The newly introduced cabinets are an updated version designed to reduce friction for customers, reports the Mirror.
Wanzl has revealed that their new security cabinets offer a “really friendly” user experience that doesn’t hinder shoppers, as per comments by Wanzl UK’s head of retail shop solutions Lee Gilks in The Grocer Magazine: “High value alcohol in stores has always been a challenge. You have to strike the balance between selling things and locking things away. To fix shrinkage you could just put a massive lock on it, but that becomes a bit of a sales turn off.”
Looking ahead, the company plans to add more features to these cabinets, such as digital header screens, weighted shelves, and shopper demographic-recording cameras. These innovations have reportedly “significantly reduced theft incidents”.
Meanwhile, figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show a dramatic rise in thefts, costing retailers around £1.8 billion in 2022-23, which is a leap from £953 million the previous year and marks the highest figure on record, exceeding £1 billion for the first time. Amidst mixed reactions online, Tesco responded to claims about the system being “tyrannical” by clarifying that the cabinets do not use facial recognition technology or photograph customers.
However, Tesco has chosen not to comment on the latest rollout when prompted by The Grocer.
Wanzl UK’s grocery key account manager, Nicola Valentino, commented: “The products that are locked up are high value, they’re nice products. We wanted it to look like a fancy chiller so people are drawn to it. We wanted to get that balance of let’s draw the paying consumer in, don’t make it an irritant, but also create that bit of paranoia for would-be thieves.”
