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In-Store Mobile Sounds Great, But Who’s Watching Out For Thieves?
(Yet another difficulty with any system that lets customers self-checkout on the spot: snatch-and-grab thieves who wait for customers to buy big-ticket items, then grab them and run. Once the item has been scanned and checked off in the LP inventory, it’s almost impossible to track down the serial number to catch the thief at the door. Then again, thieves and pickpockets already walk away with purses and wallets all the time.)
There’s another problem with using RFID tags for LP: Privacy advocates hate the idea. For customers to be able to walk out of a store and have their items confirmed as purchased, the RFID tags can’t be deactivated or removed. Remember the uproar when Wal-Mart first began RFID-tagging underwear? It really does put customers in the position of being uniquely identifiable by the tags on their clothes. That seems like a minimal risk today—but then, having a thief steal payment-card numbers with a cheap RFID scanner or personal information from wireless or mobile-phone data transmissions seemed pretty unlikely just a few years ago, too.
Could RFID tags be made to self-destruct as soon as they leave the store? Or the first time clothing is washed? Or just to decay over time? Sure—but we’re talking about current technology here. And before you start spending on types of RFID tags that haven’t been invented yet, first you’ll need inventory systems that are fast enough to catch the signal that an item has been sold, then check every tag a customer is carrying in real time as that customer is striding out the door. That’s a lot of very fast technology. It exists, but you probably don’t want to pay for it this year.
Oh, and all that technology probably won’t reduce the number of cash wraps and LP associates you need. The cash wraps may be less busy, but it’ll be a long time before everyone is using their phones to buy items on the spot. And LP will still be necessary for all those suspicious cases of items with no tags registering.
What you will get is much tighter inventory control. You’ll know exactly what has sold and, if you scan the aisles every night, exactly what got past your LP people at the door or walked out with sticky-fingered employees.
And you’ll make at least a few customers happy with the ability to avoid cash-wrap lines and own items instantly. You’re just not likely to make those people happy anytime soon.
-Marc
August 11th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
I agree with the original comment, that simple mobile purchasing would be a fantastic shopper experience.
One win-win scenario could be out-of-stock purchases — the item is not on the shelf, but a QR code tag allows the smartphone-toting shopper to scan and purchase the item for home delivery. No need to stand in line at checkout, and receipt sent by email. In this way, retailers save the sale, which otherwise might have gone to a competitor nearby, or even Amazon.com.
August 22nd, 2011 at 3:03 pm
This is illogical for merchants. Put a different spin on this. I go to the store and I scan several different items that I am purchasing. For a merchant this means several transaction fees as oppose to one at the end… The only way this could be corrected is if it was a built in shopping cart which tallied all the items and then they would enter their PIN and the transaction could be completed.
Though, I still agree this does not correct the fraud of people saying they purchased items. Now, there will be a line to get out as you wait for the security by the exits to ensure only your purchased items are in your bags…
Lets just put it this way. There will always be a line.