InVue OneKEY Ecosystem: Effectiveness and Customer, Employee, and Offender Perceptions

Retail theft remains a persistent problem, costing companies a total of $ 48.9 billion in lost assets in 2017 (National Retail Security Survey 2017, p. 1). Both internal theft, conducted by dishonest employees, and external theft, conducted by individuals outside the organization, represent a continued challenge for loss prevention teams. In 2017, external theft (shoplifting and organized retail crime) accounted for roughly 36.7% of shrink, while internal theft accounted for 30% of shrink. As a result, retailers have persistently sought technologies to minimize the threat of both internal and external theft in their retail environments.

Technologies that protect products and increase employee accountability may be effective in limiting both internal and external theft. However, because different retail environments offer unique incentives to would be offenders, it is necessary to subject new systems to rigorous tests to fully understand their effectiveness. Moreover, while new anti-theft systems may be effective at reducing theft, if they also interfere with the shopping experience, reduce sales, minimize employee productivity, or create a culture of fear among employees, their costs to the business may offset benefits.

Conversely, retailers have expressed increased interest in anti-theft technologies that can both limit theft, and drive sales. Anti-theft systems that increase employee productivity, increase employee security, or improve the shopping experience may provide benefit to the enterprise beyond their loss prevention function.

In 2018, LPRC researchers undertook a study to better understand the effect of implementing the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem in two small big-box retail stores. Generally, the goals of the research were to: 1) understand the effects of implementing the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem on overall sales, shrink, and theft; 2) understand the offender perceptions of the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem, and its ability to deter theft; 3) understand employee perceptions of the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem; and 4) understand customer perceptions of the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem and its effects on overall shopping experience in comparison with other antitheft systems.

How InVue OneKEY Ecosystem Works

Designed to limit both  external theft and and increase employee accountability through:

1. Increased ability to secure keys through employees having to activate, or “sign out”, a key at the beginning of their shift by inputting a PIN.
2. Increased ability to control unauthorized access by disabling lost keys, or by automatically disabling a key after it has been signed out for 12 hours or more.
3. Increased accounting and data collection on employees accessing fixtures and employee removal of product protection technologies.

Additionally, the InVue OneKEY Ecosystem may improve associates’ ability to provide customer service by allowing multiple associates to possess keys to open different fixtures:

1. Decreasing the necessity of finding a manager or someone from a certain department to access a protected product.
2. Decreasing customer wait time by providing more associates on the floor with access to protected
   products.

To learn more download the LPRC Full Research Report.