Walmart (WMT) is quietly testing a new way to tackle a major pain point for shoppers who have previously expressed growing frustration over encountering locked-up products in stores.
It is widely known that, for a customer to buy a product locked behind a glass display, she needs the assistance of an employee who can unlock it. That can be time-consuming if the store is low on staff.
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Many retailers lock up their products to help prevent theft, but doing this can also cause retailers to lose sales from frustrated consumers.
Related: Walmart quietly tests self-checkout feature that can curb theft
According to a recent survey from Consumer World, 55% of respondents said that when they encounter a product that is locked up in a store, they search for another place to buy it instead of seeking a store employee to unlock it.
Walmart tests technology for locked-up products
As consumers' distaste for locked-up merchandise grows, Walmart is exploring the possibility of allowing its shoppers to open security locks for items in stores themselves, according to a new Bloomberg report.
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The retailer is allegedly testing technology to allow employees to unlock security cases for products with their cell phones digitally.
Walmart is currently testing this out at hundreds of its stores, and it has discussed possibly expanding the technology to allow Walmart+ members to have a mobile key to access locked-up products.
The move from Walmart comes after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said during a recent earnings call that many consumers are growing tired of having products in stores locked behind cabinets and flocking towards online services such as Amazon Pharmacy to purchase items.
He said that Amazon Pharmacy is “driving a lot of customer resonance and buying behavior” due to its “speed and ease” that physical pharmacies are starting to lack.
“If you walk into pharmacies in cities today, it's a pretty tough experience with how much is locked behind cabinets, where you have to press a button to get somebody to come out and open the cabinets for you and a lot of shoplifting going on in the stores,” said Jassy.
Walmart battles retail theft in stores
Shoplifting has been a growing problem for Walmart and other retailers nationwide. According to the National Retail Federation, in 2022, retail theft resulted in industry losses of $112.1 billion, compared to $93.9 billion in losses the previous year.
During an earnings call on Aug. 17, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner revealed that shrink (the amount of inventory a company loses due to theft, damage, etc.) has recently increased at the company’s U.S. stores, and theft was a major factor.
Related: Walmart's sneaky tactic to prevent theft
“Shrink has increased a bit this year,” said Furner. “It increased last year. It's uneven across the country. It's not in every market. Some markets are higher than others.”
In the past few years, Walmart has been taking significant steps to curb retail theft at its stores. For example, the retailer has installed cameras embedded with artificial intelligence to monitor checkouts and prevent theft in thousands of stores.
It has also removed self-checkout machines at several of its stores. Self-service kiosks have become a growing source of retail theft for retailers across the country.
Also, some consumers recently discovered they can scan Great Value items through self-checkout machines at Walmart without using a barcode. This could help prevent theft as the machines detect items more easily.
But in a statement to TheStreet in September, a Walmart spokesperson denied that the self-checkout feature is being tested to prevent retail theft.
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