Tesco is rolling out keypad opened cabinets to a further 50 stores across its estate to secure champagne and sparkling wines.
The in-aisle locked cabinets are opened by customers via a keypad, with an alarm sounding if the chiller door has been left open for more than seven seconds or propped open.
The cabinets being installed are the latest version of the technology by retail equipment supplier Wanzl. The cabinets have already been rolled out to 22 stores – including two in smaller format Express stores – following a trial which started in late 2023.
The updated version of the cabinets features an updated customer journey, aimed at reducing friction.
“High value alcohol in stores has always been a challenge,” Wanzl UK head of retail shop solutions Lee Gilks told The Grocer. “You have to strike the balance between selling things and locking things away. To fix shrinkage you could just put a massive lock on it, but that becomes a bit of a sales turn off.”
Wanzl’s solution has a “really friendly” customer interface, he added, and “doesn’t stand in the way of someone getting what they want to get”.
Future potential for the cabinets includes digital header screens, weighted shelves and cameras that could record the demographics of shoppers and the products they select.
Wanzl said the system “significantly reduced theft incidents”.
Initial media coverage of the first iteration of the cabinets last year suggested they use AI and cameras to secure goods. Social media users said the system “takes your photo and then lets you into the fridge, therefore recording exactly who has taken specific items” and dubbed it “tyrannical”. Others theorised the keypad recorded a shopper’s fingerprint or did some kind of AI-based age verification test before opening the doors.
Tesco was forced to deny it used facial recognition technology or took photos of shoppers using the cabinets.
“The products that are locked up are high value, they’re nice products. We wanted it to look like a fancy chiller so people are drawn to it,” said Wanzl UK grocery key account manager Nicola Valentino. “We wanted to get that balance of let’s draw the paying consumer in, don’t make it an irritant, but also create that bit of paranoia for would-be thieves.”
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