JAN. 16 | As Blu-ray Discs grow in popularity, the slim boxes with the premium price also are growing more popular with thieves. This is creating a new challenge for retailers, who want to keep the new format easily accessible for customers but also want to guard against shrink.
Target has begun stocking Blu-ray titles in security casings in several hundred stores, while sources said that Blu-ray titles are being locked in secure displays in at least one southern California Wal-Mart store.
“We are using extra means of protection for Blu-ray titles,” Target spokesman Joshua Thomas said. “Our asset protection team is constantly monitoring theft trends, and we want to protect our merchandising and have titles on shelves that guests are looking for.”
He adds that so far, Target is pleased with the security implementation as “these protective devices are an effective means to deter theft in our stores.”
The Entertainment Merchants Assn. is working on solutions that prevent theft and provide simple access to titles. One problem with locked “keeper” cases, which are also often used in videogames merchandising, is that they can prevent purchases with consumers who don’t want to wait for employee assistance.
Sources indicate that the Blu-ray theft rate, the percentage of titles stolen compared to total sales, could be as high as double-digits for certain retailers. This compares to a 1.5% average for standard DVD, according to EMA. “I guess the good news is that shrink wouldn’t be so heavy if there wasn’t demand, so it means that this is a format that is in demand,” said Mark Fisher, EMA VP of strategic initiatives. “But if you look at shrink as a measure of sales with a still-growing category, it looks like the shrink is growing at a faster pace than sales.”
EMA will release its first Blu-ray theft statistics later this year, as it works on ‘Project Lazarus,’ a program exploring new security technology that will satisfy retailers but won’t necessarily curb consumer interest for Blu-ray.
“The fewer barriers that exist for the consumer to get to the product, the better off sales are going to be for the product,” said Fisher. “Consumers don’t want to have the potential aggravation to wait at check out for someone to open a keeper case.”
Also, the Blu-ray theft threat is leading certain retailers to consider lightening their orders of the product, according to sources.
“What some retailers are doing is bringing in less,” said one wholesale distribution source. “The industry needs to embrace Blu-ray, but theft is an issue. We need retailers to support it, but not at the price of having it all stolen.”
EMA is already evaluating one possible non-keeper/non-glass-wall solution, created by the company Aequitas Innovation. The technology revolves around an RFID-controlled ‘button’ that is locked to the disc inside the package. Upon being scanned at retailers’ registers, the buttons are unlocked, and only then can consumers take the disc out of the package for viewing. People should find it impossible to pry stolen discs off package hubs that use the Aequitas button system before it is unlocked.
Adding a button to a Blu-ray title should cost less than 20¢ a unit.
EMA’s Fisher hopes to have the Aequitas technology involved in late-2009 retail pilots. Aequitas is eyeing widespread retail rollout in 2010.
“This is a fairly big improvement,” said Paul Atkinson, Aequitas president and CEO. “Employee theft is a big problem, and only authorized staff will have access to the RFID scanners to unlock the button keys.”
Atkinson believes that the technology is tough but still soft enough not to scare away customers. “This will get rid of that scotch tape on discs that drives us nuts,” he said. “We spend all this money to create attractive packaging, but then we go and wrap them in packaging designed to keep people away from them.”
He also hopes that Aequitas’ technology will encourage more paper-based environmentally friendly packaging, which makes the cases particularly vulnerable to theft because of their light, slim design.
good news for all of us who hate the security seals used on blu-rays. Not sure about this new technology as how many times has employees failed to deactivate the sensor strip and the doors go off.
This approach seems better than the benefit denial program that was proposed awhile back where the movie/game would not operate until deactivated at the cash register
The Walmarts in my area have either been locking them in a case or locking each individual movie in a security container complete with an alarm. The individual containers I can deal with. It looks ridiculous but at least I can handle the container, look at the back of the cover, etc. I refuse to buy from anywhere that locks stuff in a case though. It ridiculous that you have to wait for someone to open the case just to look at something or buy something.
Anyway, if everyone starts doing this sort of thing, I'll just buy online instead. Part of the reason I don't mind paying a little more is because I enjoy the browsing aspect. If they hinder that, I'll just go with the cheaper online prices.
The Walmarts in my area have either been locking them in a case or locking each individual movie in a security container complete with an alarm. The individual containers I can deal with. It looks ridiculous but at least I can handle the container, look at the back of the cover, etc. I refuse to buy from anywhere that locks stuff in a case though. It ridiculous that you have to wait for someone to open the case just to look at something or buy something.
Anyway, if everyone starts doing this sort of thing, I'll just buy online instead. Part of the reason I don't mind paying a little a little more is because I enjoy the browsing aspect. If they hinder that, I'll just go with the cheaper online prices.
Yeah, I agree, although I already buy online.
I wish theft weren't such a huge issue in this country. I absolutely hate those completely sealed, impossible to open plastic packages that everything comes in these days. I remember importing a DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller from Japan, and the backing was just a piece of cardboard that I was able to untape and slide right out.
I wish theft weren't such a huge issue in this country. I absolutely hate those completely sealed, impossible to open plastic packages that everything comes in these days. I remember importing a DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller from Japan, and the backing was just a piece of cardboard that I was able to untape and slide right out.
Yeah, it's unfortunate and they make it so hard to get out sometimes it's a little ridiculous. I was visiting my parents a while back and went to pop in a movie and noticed the cover and plastic was all mangled (plastic was ripped and streched, cover was torn, etc.). I asked my dad what happened and he said that just happened when he was opening it. I'm sure he lost his temper and just started forcing the issue. While I haven't had that happened with DVD/blu-rays, I've had it happen several times with other products and their impossible to open plastic containers. I've ripped several manuals/product pages as I've gotten mad and just started trying to rip the plastic open to get to the product. So I completely understood what happened to my dad. He now just takes a knife and cuts through the security tape without taking the tape off. I couldn't deal with that but basically, the older he gets, the harder it is to deal with that stuff. Heh, slightly off-topic...but not to mention child-proof caps. Like them, I've started buying the medicine advertised for arthritic people since they have the easy to open caps. Some of the child-proof caps seems almost adult proof.
I wish theft weren't such a huge issue in this country. I absolutely hate those completely sealed, impossible to open plastic packages that everything comes in these days. I remember importing a DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller from Japan, and the backing was just a piece of cardboard that I was able to untape and slide right out.
That's one huge thing I will give Amazon props for. They are getting specially packaged products from manufacturers with less security measures. Since they are a huge warehouse they can do it. I hate when I buy toys for my son and it takes longer to get the stupid thing out of the package then it does to put it together. They have zip strips, screws, nails, bolts, glue, force fields, DNA scanners and everything possible to prevent somebody that legally purchased the item to get it out of it's packaging. I mean why the **** do I need a SCREWDRIVER to get a toy that requires NO assembly out of the case????? That just gets me.
Scotch tape on top is not too bad. It's the ones on the sides and bottom. Those are industrial strength glue they put on, and the top layer separates from the bottom layer easily, leaving a glue tape behing. It is almost impossible to remove them without scratching and dmaging the plastic on the case itself.
The have to get rid of those tapes, or find better tapes that don't ruin the case for us.
Another good way to prevent theft would be LOWER PRICES. Who want's to risk jail time for a $15-$20 movie?
Low or high price won't change theft, some will try to steal for the thrill, some just because they don't want to pay, others because they will always steal. Human nature is human nature.
Tower shipped me a blu-ray/dvd case opener that acts sort of like a can opener and I could see myself using that to jack movies. but i wont because of the thrill i get when i see packages at my front door.
OMG! GOO GONE is SO COOL! My Iron Man BLU was F'd up by the stupid stickers and this was so helpful...
I found some at my work and decided to get some in a cup to try, funny thing is everyone thought it was pee in the cup. I was like "Does pee smell like this?"
Glue residue largely depends on what part of the country you live in and how long that item has been kept in storage. I have noticed that many of Lionsgate's BDs have glue that has apparently melted in extreme heat, leaving a mess on the case. Obviously people that live in cold places like Minnesota have less of these problems typically.
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