NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY “HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS”

MADRID, 2011

Retail Store Security Equipment: How Non-humans

are Made Visible

Issues for Research

Empirical Data

53 in-depth interviews (2006-2007): 39 interviews with managers of food retailing:

18 interviews with top managers of grocery chains; 11 interviews with managers of small-scale trading;

500 questionnaires filled by managers of retail chains and their suppliers from 5 cities of Russia: Moscow, S.-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, and Tyumen (2007–2008).

Prehistory of Shoplifting

Prehistory of Shoplifting

Modern trade formats (department stores and supermarkets) provide consumers with a free access to goods and turn shopping from labor duty into entertainment;

Self-service system liquidates visible barriers and direct contacts between buyers and retailers and provokes people into shoplifting;

Anti-theft technologies are turned out to be one of the essential features of supermarkets and distinguish modern and traditional stores.

Competing Anti-theft Technologies

Competing Anti-theft Technologies

Evolution of Electronic Article Surveillance (1968 – present time)

Evolution of Electronic Article Surveillance

Advanced technologies detecting and deterring shoplifting replaced security personnel;

Diverse technologies were designed for different goods and different stores;

Anti-theft technologies developed from effectiveness and standardization toward broadening opportunities and total surveillance over movements of goods.

Retailers and Experienced Shoplifters: a Combat of Technologies and Counter-Technologies

Retailers and Experienced Shoplifters: a Combat of Technologies and Counter-

Technologies

Technologies stimulate changes in criminal practices.

Experienced shoplifters effect greater damage to retailers but occasional shoplifters are detected more often.

While modern anti-theft technologies are better at catching occasional shoplifters, traditional surveillance measures are better at combating with experienced shoplifters.

A major aim of anti-theft technologies has been transformed: from detecting to deterring.

Retailers and Customers: Making the Hidden Technologies Visible

Retailers and Customers: Making the Hidden Technologies Visible

Shoplifting prevention implies that retailers should make anti-theft technologies visible.

Making security measures more visible to consumers it discourages potential shoplifting.

Making security measures more visible to consumers it causes a significant proportion of shoppers to feel uncomfortable and bothered.

Retailers and Suppliers: Who should pay for Anti-theft Technologies?

Retailers and Suppliers: Who should pay for Anti-theft Technologies?

tag sourcing;losses caused by shoplifters should be

compensated by suppliers. Suppliers (N=249), % Retailers (N=252), %

How often do retailers require from their suppliers to compensate shrink loss?

Large-scale retailers

Small-scale retailers

From large-scale suppliers

From small-scale suppliers

Often or from time to time

26 12 42 40

Never 74 88 58 60

Total 100 100 100 100

Conclusions

Thank you for attention!