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Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

retailbrew.com

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Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#61

Post by vel0city »

akira2501 wrote: post #58
kortilla wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re premise doesn’t make sense. When Walgreens left the local retailers should have had no problem picking up the business. But the issue is they can’t because they are also subject to shoplifting problems, shocker. The premise of “this business drove itself into the ground to force itself to eventually have to close” is risible. Why wouldn’t they just close the business and skip all of the loss in between of goin…

> When Walgreens left the local retailers should have had no problem picking up the business. They already closed. > But the issue is they can’t because they are also subject to shoplifting problems, shocker. No, they just don't exist, bad COVID policies and mismanagement of PPP helped with that the most. > The premise of “this business drove itself into the ground to force itself to eventually have to close” is risi…

> so many of you are so eager to shout down what I'm saying

Because what you're saying makes little sense. Cabinets increase costs. Why would the retailer willingly increase their costs when they could just not have cabinets and enjoy a better margin and not risk losing customers to internet retailers?

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#62

Post by bsder »

abeppu wrote: post #48

Also in the 'solution to shop-lifting makes me shop elsewhere', there are two locally-owned independent hardware stores in walking distance from my home. One has a 'buzz to enter' vestibule with two doors whose locks are controlled by the cashier. You ring the exterior bell, the cashier buzzes you through the first door, and only after it closes will they buzz open the second door -- so you're trapped. The same is tr…

> But even though I'm not stealing anything but I find the whole experience so deeply unpleasant that I've stopped going there at all.

You're offended just for being buzzed in and out? Why?

That's about the least offensive thing a business can do.

If they were selling jewelry instead of hardware, everybody would consider it a mark of being upscale.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#63

Post by quickthrowman »

taeric wrote: post #5

I'm torn on this. First, yes, I find locked items obnoxious. Still not happy that the easy to find nasal medicine in many stores was found to be garbage. That said, by the numbers here, it isn't clear how often people succeed at buying the item in another store. For a truly hilarious spin, you could think that having the item out where folks can touch things is itself the dark pattern that is encouraging people to bu…

> Still not happy that the easy to find nasal medicine in many stores was found to be garbage.

At least with pseudoephedrine you can just walk up to the pharmacy and say ‘sell me as many generic pseudoephedrine tablets as I’m allowed to purchase’, sign the FDA log, and pay for it.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#64

Post by neilv »

> National chains including Target have put much of their inventory behind glass in recent years as a response to what they call organized retail crime

The Target personnel around here are usually nice, but the stores have the most conspicuous Loss Prevention activity in recent years, especially (besides the locked shelves) with what comes off as LP soft interventions.

As a result, despite being a non-shoplifter, I've become self-conscious whenever I go into a Target (which is pretty often, lately, for location convenience reasons), unlike most other stores.

I really wonder whether Target has considered how various measures intended to thwart shoplifters -- not only the locked shelves -- have negative implications for genuine customers.

For example, take subtle signaling intended for shoplifters: it's not like shoplifters are the only ones who pick up on that. (Some people don't notice, but some people do.)

I thought Target was supposed to be like Walmart, but with more designer style, and relatively upscale pretense. Yet lately it's like they're insinuating that shoppers are in a bad neighborhood, that ordinary individual shoppers are suspect, and they've got their eye on you.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#65

Post by abeppu »

bsder wrote: post #62
abeppu wrote: post #48

Also in the 'solution to shop-lifting makes me shop elsewhere', there are two locally-owned independent hardware stores in walking distance from my home. One has a 'buzz to enter' vestibule with two doors whose locks are controlled by the cashier. You ring the exterior bell, the cashier buzzes you through the first door, and only after it closes will they buzz open the second door -- so you're trapped. The same is tr…

> But even though I'm not stealing anything but I find the whole experience so deeply unpleasant that I've stopped going there at all. You're offended just for being buzzed in and out? Why? That's about the least offensive thing a business can do. If they were selling jewelry instead of hardware, everybody would consider it a mark of being upscale.

I'm not offended. I'm uncomfortable being trapped in an enclosed box in which I'm reliant on another person (who clearly distrusts me) taking 4 separate actions for me to enter and exit. The article points out that shoppers at Walgreens would rather go to another store than ask and wait for for a staff person to unlock their razor cartridges or whatever. This hardware store has effectively wrapped their business in such a barrier, and I would rather go to another store than ask and wait for a staff person to unlock 4 doors for me.

Also, implicit in all of this is that:

- you are submitting yourself for judgement based on how you look for them to decide whether you're likely to be a paying customer. I doubt whether any set criteria are used, but I fully expect that race, age, gender, and a range of class markers are involved.

- though they the business are distrustful and unwelcoming of you the prospective customer, you the customer are forced to be entirely trusting of their staff. They start the interaction off by broadcasting the presumption that you may be a threat, and establishing unilateral physical control to restrain people on entry or exit. I read this as both hostile and inequitable.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#66

Post by _blz2 »

josefresco wrote: post #2

Talk about a downward spiral of terrible decisions. Cut staff and add checkout machines to save money. Customers start stealing (legit or not) so they lock down items behind glass, but have no staff to help customers so they see less sales! Wild. I hope the shareholders who accepted these changes feel pain.

yes, people are stealing because of cut staff at checkout machines.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#67

Post by fragmede »

giantg2 wrote: post #60
LordKeren wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume that is more tied to vandalism then theft though

How so?

At least in my jurisdiction, you have to be 18 or 21 to buy spray paint in an attempt to stop kids from spraying graffiti so the store legally has to check id before selling spray paint.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#70

Post by diggernet »

vkou wrote: post #24
coolspot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In civilized, high-trust societies self-checkout works well and is very convenient. Of course if you refuse to prosecute crime you will have everything locked.

> In civilized, high-trust societies self-checkout works well and is very convenient. There's nothing convenient about me having to do the cashier's job, but badly, while having a tiny space to do my bagging in, while a computer yells at me. Maybe for someone with truly crippling social anxiety, this is preferable to an actually functional check-out counter, but I'm blessed to not be afflicted by it.

And someone with truly crippling social anxiety isn't going to be standing there in the store with a line of people staring at them while a computer yells at them. They are gonna be sitting at home waiting for the gig worker to drop off their stuff.
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