The company will remove self-checkout registers from the 300 stores that have the biggest problem with shrinkage — an industry term that refers to lost or stolen merchandise — during the first half of the year.
Currently, the company has self-checkout options available in more than 14,000 stores. However, it is deploying three initiatives to change its self-sufficiency strategy this year as it tries to reduce the ongoing headwinds.
Retailers to lose $112 billion in 2022 due to ‘unprecedented levels’ of theft
In its most recent quarter, the company reported that “year-over-year contractionary headwinds continued to increase during the year, increasing more than 100 basis points for both the fourth quarter and the full year,” said CFO Kelly Dilts during the earnings call.
In its most recent quarter, gross profit as a percentage of sales fell 29.5%, a drop of 138 basis points, which Dilts said was in large part affected by the contraction.
To help, the company has already begun converting self-checkout registers to assisted checkout options in about 9,000 stores.
“This is intended to drive traffic first to our staffed registers, with assisted-checkout options available as second or third options to reduce lines during high-volume time,” Vasos said.
The company is also limiting self-checkout to transactions consisting of five items or fewer.
Vasos said the company believes “these actions have the potential to have a material and positive impact on shrink” in the second half of the year and into 2025.