Nothing kills holiday gift shopping fun faster than locked up products
It’s going to be a very obvious sore spot for harried shoppers this holiday season.
There will be a lot of merchandise — giftable gadgets to cashmere sweaters, lip gloss and perfume sets and even food items— that will be behind lock and key. It’s a tactic that big retail chains to smaller boutique stores are implementing to deter theft.
But, it also runs the risk of frustrating shoppers — more so during the busy year-end gift-buying rush —who then have to wait for assistance to get the products they want from inside a locked cabinet.
Some will wait. Many others won’t. They’ll go elsewhere (meaning lost sales for that store), or shop online.
“Retailers need to ensure their remedies aren’t worse than the shrink problem itself, particularly during the holiday season,” Zak Stambor, senior analyst, retail and ecommerce, with market research firm eMarketer, told Bagable.com. (“Shrink” is an industry term that means products lost to customer shoplifting, theft by employee, fraud or other means)
Stores have to strike a balance between introducing preventative measures—such as using more staff during the holiday period, reducing use of self-checkouts, or limiting access to frequently stolen merchandise—and adding too much friction to the customer experience, Stambor said.
“While some consumers may be willing to wait around for an employee to unlock a cabinet, many others will simply head to another store or an online retailer like Amazon,” he said.
Shoppers losing patience
A new survey this week showed that as many as 60% of shoppers are finding products locked up on a regular basis, and 28% (more than a quarter) see this every time they head into a store, according to market research firm Numerator.
The stores where consumers are most likely to see products in locked cabinets are mass retailers, followed by drug stores, grocery stores, department stores, home improvement retailers, and finally dollar stores.
Shoppers ranked CVS, Walgreens and Target among the easiest to get assistance to retrieve locked-up merchandise, while Walmart was ranked among the most difficult to get help.
The report also revealed that electronics, over-the-counter medications, makeup and cosmetics, large electronics, and accessories are among the most commonly locked-up items.
More than a quarter of shoppers polled said they would go somewhere else if an item they want to buy had to be brought out of a cabinet, although 62% of them said they do typically wait for assistance.
The Numerator survey was based on a poll of 5,000 consumers conducted in September 2024. It gauged consumer awareness and reaction to merchandise being locked up in stores.