Instead of freeing your dandruff shampoo and teeth whitening strips, stores are doubling down on their little cages by giving customers the power to open them. Well, eventually.
Walmart is testing new tech that will empower shoppers to unlock pestiferous security locks with their phones. Employees are already using it in a few hundred stores, but now the retailer has discussed rolling it out to Walmart+ loyalty members, Bloomberg reported. CVS is also piloting a system that lets shoppers unlock Tide Pods with its app.
- A company called Indyme says 26 retailers are using its “Freedom Case,” which lets customers enter their phone numbers into a touchscreen device to receive a code that unlocks the case guarding the family-size box of Cheez-Its.
- Indyme doesn’t specify which big-name stores use its product—and most retailers are being cagey on details—but CNN reported that earlier this year, Safeway and Lowe’s were among the stores listed on Indyme’s website as testing the unlocking feature.
Big picture: Stores are scrambling to fix the universally despised shopping experience they created in response to theft. Following the pandemic, big retailers claimed that organized retail theft was skyrocketing, so they locked up all their merch. And while some experts say the cases have deterred shoplifting, they’ve also curbed impulse purchases, annoyed already stretched-thin staff, and pushed shoppers toward online shopping.—MM morningbrew.com