It is Monday morning 7:00 AM, you begin your weekly counting of your shopping carts. To your great frustration, there are again 6 less shopping carts than last week. Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality for many Store Managers. Theft and loss of shopping carts is a big problem. Not only for the supermarket that spends a lot of money to buy new shopping carts, but also for the area around the supermarket where the shopping carts roam around and cause damage to cars, bicycles and motors.
According to the Food Marketing Institute in Arlington, VA, the annual cost of shopping cart theft worldwide is US $800 million. Despite all efforts by retailers to reduce shopping cart theft and loss, the problem remains. Last summer, a Safeway supermarket in San Francisco announced that they had lost 160 shopping carts in one month. This is more than 5 shopping carts per day! (Calgary Herald, 21.09.2021) If your supermarket loses only 3 shopping carts per week, it still costs the store at least US $15,000 per year.
To prevent shopping cart theft, an innovative solution has been developed by Rocateq called Cart Security. Each shopping cart is fitted with an intelligent wheel and in consultation with you as store manager it is determined how far in the parking lot you want your customers to be able to access. A low voltage wire is installed in your parking lot that forms the boundary of the free area for the shopping carts. If the cable is laid around the parking lot of the store, all customers can freely take the shopping cart to their car but cannot take the shopping cart off the property. The intelligent wheel locks when the shopping cart passes over the wire. When pulling the shopping cart backwards, the intelligent wheel automatically unlocks and the shopping cart is free to be used again. The shopping cart will not lock abruptly but a strong braking effect is created which prevents unnecessary wear and tear on the wheel. Smart customers who think they can lift the shopping cart over the cable will be disappointed; the special wheel also locks when carried over the embedded wire.
Rocateq develops, supplies, installs and maintains this innovative solution against theft and loss of shopping carts. Your shopping carts will be protected from theft and you will save on the purchase of new shopping carts every year. The community surrounding your store will thank you for the fact that shopping carts no longer roam the neighbourhood. In addition, you always have enough shopping carts available for all your customers!
Many may not even know they have a shopping cart theft problem because most Loss Prevention executives never see financial loss information regarding shopping carts. Find out what the real impact of shopping cart loss is and how it affects your sales.
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