Gatekeeper Systems, the leading provider of intelligent cart solutions, announces the release of purchek® 2.0 pushout theft prevention solution, the next generation of locking wheel technology preventing shopping carts full of unpaid merchandise from being pushed out of stores.
While opportunity theft continues to be a problem for retailers with shopping carts, organized retail crime (ORC) theft has increasingly been responsible for retail shrinkage. Shopping carts are quickly becoming a tool of choice among ORC rings due to the large size and quantity of items a cart can carry and the growing ease of reselling stolen merchandise.
The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2015 ORC Survey identified various resell venues as “pawn shops, stores, swap meets and online auction sites”. Stores quickly feel pushout loss, costing retailers in 2015 an average of $562 per event. In the same year only 50% of known pushed out merchandise was ever recovered by the store. Beyond loss, pushout theft also threatens employee safety.
These days the reward from shoplifting often outweighs the risk, with motivated pushout shoplifters too often becoming aggressive or violent to avoid being apprehended and/or to prevent the loss of stolen goods. An average of 8% of reported pushout thefts last year ended in violence. Today’s savvy shoplifters have evolved from yesterday’s thief, so too has the purchek® pushout theft prevention solution.
purchek has long been known in the industry as a key loss prevention tool for preventing pushout theft, giving retailers the capability to defend their entire store against shoplifters. The technology advancements in the release of purchek 2.0 now allows retailers even more options while benefitting from enhanced performance.
Customization innovations in the new release allow retailers to choose to target only a specific section/location in a store to better tackle particular high loss problem areas. Stores with unique layouts, remote POS areas, and notoriously challenging self-checkout areas will also benefit from the customization allowing for paid customers to move freely while unpaid merchandise is stopped. Further advancements with the purchek 2.0 rollout include wireless options and upgraded system communication technology.
The purchek 2.0 technology provides an element of safety for store employees as the shopping cart stops at a store’s door leaving the cart and merchandise inside. The inclusion of optional audible and visual alarms motivate a shoplifter to abandon the locked shopping cart allowing employees to safely retrieve the shopping cart’s merchandise. No apprehension or confrontation is necessary.
Integration with the store’s video surveillance system allows pushout theft events to be easily captured to obtain details for each event. Valuable data is captured by the wheel then communicated to Gatekeeper’s GNet™ dashboard for enterprise management. The GNet dashboard also monitors the system including line breaks, system, and battery health.
The purchek 2.0 solution utilizes Gatekeeper’s patented SmartWheel® 2.0QS locking wheel technology which comes with an industry leading 5 year battery warranty as well as the lowest overall life cost available. As with all Gatekeeper Systems wheel technology, the purchek 2.0 pushout theft prevention solution enjoys the convenient hands-free wheel reset allowing employees to mobilize the cart again without ever touching the wheel.
As pushout theft continues to reoccur for retailers, it’s time to put a stop to pushout theft and shoplifter confrontation and time to recover unpaid merchandise rolling out the door. purchek 2.0 is available in North America and is scheduled for an upcoming release in worldwide markets. Learn more about the new purchek 2.0 intelligent pushout theft prevention solution at Gatekeeper Systems’ website: www.gatekeepersystems.com.
About Gatekeeper Systems
Gatekeeper Systems is the global market leader for shopping cart containment solutions, helping to protect over 3.2 million shopping carts worldwide. Its loss prevention and cart containment solutions utilize locking wheel technology to reduce shrinkage by putting an end to shopping cart cased shoplifting and shopping cart loss.
Gatekeeper recently exhibited a live demonstration of the purchek 2.0 pushout theft prevention solution at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) show in Chicago, IL USA with attendees sharing their excitement as they watched “thieves” carts stop at the store door. Gatekeeper Systems has eight international office locations with system installations from single store locations all the way to multinational retail chains across the globe.
For more information on Gatekeeper Systems, please visit www.gatekeepersystems.com.