Retailer managers are turning to wheel-blocking solutions to put an end to the impunity of certain consumers. A response that has a significant cost, however.
Par
Charles Plantade
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The famous shopping cart, so well known to the French, is attracting the desires of more and more consumers, to the chagrin of supermarkets. Even empty, a cart still has intrinsic value and some utility. And whether it is to transport goods, resell materials (especially iron), or to turn it into an obstacle, supermarket shopping carts are the target of more than recurring thefts.
Far from being trivial, these thefts have a significant cost for the signs: they have generated losses of the order of 695 million dollars for the American supermarkets, advances Eric Kalasz, director France of the company of security of trolleys Rocateq. The Food Marketing Institute, for its part, estimates that nearly 2 million supermarket trolleys are stolen each year on American soil, while a single device costs 125 euros on average.
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In France, several hypermarkets are complaining of having to hunt for lost trolleys, such as the Carrefour du Clou-Bouchet in Niort (Deux-Sèvres) which had to recover “between 60 and 80 every other day” esteem for Le Figaro Alexandre Clet, the store manager. “Although we managed to find most of them, the means mobilized were too substantial and the final losses remained enormous despite everything: a hundred a year at the very least, or a quarter of our fleet of 400 trucks.». Same observation at Carrefour Alma in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) with 150 to 200 missing weekly. Or several thousand euros that vanish…
Nationally, groups are keeping quiet about the issue. Asked by Le FigaroAuchan Retails and Carrefour refuse to communicate on this subject, while for Système U, “the management was never alerted on this point». «The traditional coin-operated system (where a token or coin is enough to unlock the Shopping Cart, Editor’s note) already effectively limits disappearances», love yourself where.
Solutions to limit losses
However, supermarkets are individually turning to solutions to protect their shopping carts. The Dutch company Rocateq thus proposes to equip trolleys with a connected wheel-blocking system which is triggered when the trolley leaves a certain area. To date, the company has already equipped “more than 300,000 trolleys in France, which represents half a thousand stores“says its director France, Eric Kalasz.
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This electromagnetic device could well be the key to the evils of supermarkets. But this solution has a cost: it takes between 40 and 55 euros to equip a wheel. In the most problematic areas, some even choose to double the lock, observes Eric Kalasz. Added to this are installation costs since a running underground cable must first be installed along the defined perimeter. “An investment of 120,000 euros“, declared in 2019 an Auchan store in Cergy (Val-d’Oise), which equipped 600 of its trolleys. And even if “the investment was very substantial” to equip the 400 caddies of the Carrefour de Niort, Alexandre Clet welcomes it. “Today, the store no longer has to worry about it. We no longer have to mobilize teams to track carts, and only 2 or 3 disappear per week. It’s a real relief».
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