Walgreens says locking up merchandise to stop shoplifting hurts gross sales

Locking up retailer merchandise can deter shoplifters and paying clients alike, in accordance with Walgreens.

The pharmacy chain’s CEO Tim Wentworth mentioned in Walgreens Boots Alliance’s first-quarter earnings name Tuesday that “Once you lock issues up … you do not promote as lots of them. We have sort of confirmed that fairly conclusively.”

Preserving retail merchandise below lock and secret is a maneuver designed to thwart rising retail theft. But it surely additionally irks — and turns away — would-be paying clients who haven’t got the endurance to attend for a retail clerk to retrieve items they want to purchase.

Walgreens and different retailers have needed to fight so-called “retail shrink,” or the lack of stock from causes apart from gross sales, Wentworth famous. The corporate took steps to safe extra merchandise after it discovered retail theft accounted for a rising share of shrink. Nevertheless, locking merchandise behind plastic has not proved efficient, he mentioned. 

The corporate’s asset safety division is growing “inventive” options to struggle retail theft, Wentworth mentioned Tuesday.

“I haven’t got something magnificent to share with you at this time. It’s a hand-to-hand fight battle nonetheless, sadly,” Wentworth mentioned.

The corporate reported an working lack of $245 million for the quarter, in comparison with $39 million for a similar quarter one yr earlier. 

Walgreens plans to shut a whole bunch of shops by the top of 2025 to show round its flagging gross sales. It has already closed roughly 2,000 places over the previous decade and has “quite a lot of expertise with retailer closures,” the corporate mentioned. 

“Naturally, we count on our future footprint to help stronger efficiency,” Wentworth mentioned.