Vice President, Physical Security and Chief Security Officer at Guidepost Solutions. Retail theft leads to a retailer losing profits from the potential sales that may have been generated by the stolen goods. Also, shops must allocate funds to initiatives that aim to reduce and prevent theft.

This may entail adding more security guards, setting up surveillance cameras, locking up items and putting in place sophisticated tagging systems and other anti-theft procedures. “Locking show cases are the standard “go-to” theft deterrent for retail stores, but they are a poison pill.

It is a well know secret that deploying locking show cases, to slow down theft, is shown to reduce sales of the products contained inside it, by over 25%,” Keith Carpentier, President & CEO, Qbuster technologies. There are other, less evident drawbacks, though.

To protect themselves against theft-related losses, for instance, shops frequently pay a premium. In order to pay for the expense of theft prevention measures, they might also be obliged to hike prices, which could damage customer loyalty. Also, people may shop elsewhere if they feel unsafe or uneasy in the retail setting…