Shrinkage refers to all intended sales income that does not, or cannot, be realised. Such shrinkage can be malicious or non-malicious and in-store or process related. Either way, specific shrinkage management techniques are required to better control it.

Traditionally shrinkage has been seen as a retailer problem, but growing awareness of its impact on the shopper and on merchandising strategy now means manufacturers must also think critically about it.

The ECR Europe Shrinkage Workgroup develops management processes to better manage shrink. Their latest publication is entitled “The Impact and Control of Shrinkage at Self-Scan Checkout – An ECR Europe White Paper”.

The findings were largely positive and suggested that self-scan technologies had little or no impact on the levels of shrinkage. The research did show that a high degree of alerts, errors and inability to scan bar codes can create a situation where customers may feel legitimised to steal via self-scan and simply justify their offence by blaming the system and/or retailer. According to a survey of checkout staff, 46% of respondents thought that every hour there was a customer problem with not being able to scan a bar code, which was the third most common problem. The report did not however differentiate between issues concerning the quality of the printing of bar codes on products or incorrect product listings on retail systems.

To read the full report download a copy here:

ATTACHMENTS (Click on the filename to download):

ECR Self Scan Shrinkage Report