StORES Magazine - September 2007 - (Page L26) INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE Are EAS Providers Really Performing? BY ADEL SAYEGH E AS technology was introduced more than three decades ago to help retailers secure their merchandise and reduce shortage. And it worked. On average, companies reported up to a 70 percent reduction in shortage, with significant improvement to their bottom-line operating profits. Placing emphasis on shrink prevention and inventory controls allowed savvy retailers to improve store in-stocks while enhancing self-service merchandising for their loyal customers. Adel Sayegh is president and CEO of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based USS Corp. EAS continues to be very positive for today’s retailers, but EAS technology has evolved very little since it was first introduced. While today’s systems are more reliable, stable and offer enhanced protection, the tags still poke holes in the merchandise and labels have created a whole new nemesis for retailers called “Tag Pollution.” This is not the positive impact merchandisers want to have on the 99 percent of consumers who are loyal, paying customers. In 1968, you could purchase a General Corp. Nova computer, which was the size of a suitcase and had 32 kilobytes of memory, for approximately $8,000. Today, a Dell notebook with a hi-res widescreen, 10 GB of memory and a LoJack anti-theft device retails for less than $1,000. The computer industry has made significant progress in improving its technology and making products more compact, less expensive and much more user-friendly; where are the similar advancements in the EAS industry? I believe EAS solution providers have become complacent about solutions that have been around for years: We need to re-engi- neer the EAS industry, work to achieve new efficient and economical solutions for the retailer and its loyal shoppers. Listen to retailers The EAS industry needs to actively listen more to retailers and consumers to offer them innovative solutions that not only work, but are also cost-effective and provide retailers with the most flexible options possible. If retailers are analyzing high shrinkage, measuring increases to labor costs and watching sustained losses of merchandise and financial losses due to injury, then they need solutions that fit their needs, budgets and potential growth. More often than not, retailers have their own ideas about a potential solution, only to be told it is not available or it can’t be done. As household budgets get tighter due to increased costs related to housing, energy and the price of gasoline, consumers are watching the price of merchandise. And this is impacting sales at the checkout. What else are consumers saying – or, more important, not saying – when they are shopping? Why not work to mini- mize or eliminate tag damage to merchandise, significantly reduce injuries from pins and make tags smaller and much less obtrusive? Wouldn’t consumers be excited about these changes? I believe they would. Look to the future If we listen to retailers and provide creative, more efficient EAS solutions, then perhaps consumers would spend more while they are out shopping. And since we know retailers are constantly looking at improving their bottom lines, shouldn’t we do our part to help by looking to the future and the technologies yet to be created? Through listening and creative R&D, the EAS industry needs to provide retailers with opportunities for greater cost savings with advanced EAS technologies that only we can create. Being a leader means striving to develop technologies yet to be seen, dreams yet to be visualized and ideas yet to be implemented. Providing new solutions that our retail customers are desperately seeking is our challenge – one that will be met by the minds of innovative leaders that make up the future of our EAS industry. WWW.LPINFORMATION.COM L26 STORES / SEPTEMBER 2007 http://WWW.LPINFORMATION.COM
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