The retail industry and lost £billions

If there was one area of business which could claim to be the king of lost £billions, it has to be the retail industry, supermarkets, clothing, electrical, it is not confined to a single sector. Shoplifting is an area that retailers have struggled with since people set up stalls to sell merchandise. Many ways have been tried to combat this theft, some quite effective, others not so. However, one which many retailers swear by is the security tags which have sensors that trigger an alert when someone tries to remove an item from a store without paying.

The system is fairly straightforward, often the best products are, and the security tag relies upon electronic article surveillance or EAS as one of the main components of the tag. There can be little doubt that these security tags have helped retailers enormously in combating this theft from their premises. The tags come in a number of sizes and they can be hard tags with sensors, magnetic and ink tags or they can be clever soft tags that can include stickers and security labels that are fixed to the items.

When the items are presented to the checkout, they are either removed in the case of the hard tags, or the tag is deactivated so that it will not sound the alarm when it is taken out of the store and passes by the detectors.

Security tags are a vital component for the retail industry today, shoplifting, or theft as it should be referred to, cost the retail industry £billions and this does not just come out of the retailers’ pocket, it is eventually passed onto every shopper that buys from the store.

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