‘It’s a pretty tough experience,’ says Amazon CEO over anti-theft measures & reveals change in shoppers’ buying behavior

ONLINE retailers are benefitting from shoplifting as brick-and-mortar stores lose sales to restrictive anti-theft measures, Amazon’s CEO has said.

As retailers introduce anti-theft measures including lockable shopping carts, receipt checks , and locked-up items, customers are becoming increasingly frustrated.

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With the shopping experience becoming more wearisome with customers asked to do more to prove their innocence, many are turning to online stores instead.

“It’s a pretty tough experience with how much is locked behind cabinets, where you have to press a button to get somebody to come out and open the cabinets for you,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at a company earnings call on Thursday.

“A lot of shoplifting [is] going on in the stores,” he admitted.

“So the combination of what’s happening in the physical world and how much improvement we’ve made to our pharmacy experience is driving a lot of customer resonance and buying behavior.”

Shocking statistics about how the retail industry is suffering from shoplifting have revealed a bleak future .

In 2023, stores lost $121.6 billion to theft, according to Capital One shopping research.

Current forecasts predict that shoplifting could end up costing the industry over $150 billion in 2026.

According to the National Retail Federation , in 2016, $48.9 billion was lost from theft in 2016 which grew year on year (except 2017) to $122 billion last year.

The NRF predicts losses of around $132 billion this year and $143 million in 2025.

The Capital One research added that stores only catch around 2% of shoplifters and that on average, they are only caught once out of every 100 incidents.

As the retail industry clamps down on the rampant theft issue, numerous policies have been introduced that while protecting store inventory, are causing shoppers to abandon carts and boycott stores.

CVS has been slammed as “pathetic” by shoppers for its locked-up items as they also pity the workers who have the “sh**tiest job in America” having to unlock cases.

“What does it say about our society that stores are treating us like an elementary school snack station that they gotta keep behind the closed door,” another said.

The retailer has come out in defense of its decision to lock up goods.

“Different products experience different theft rates, depending on store location and other factors, and our product protection decisions are data-driven,” CVS previously told The U.S. Sun.

“We utilize a variety of different measures to deter or prevent theft and locking a product is a measure of last resort.”

Anti-theft measures rolled out by retailers

Retailers across the US and Canada have rolled out strategies designed to combat theft. The U.S. Sun has compiled a list of measures that have been implemented at stores.

• Locking items in cabinets.
• Security pegs.
• Security cameras.
• Signs warning about the impact of theft.
• Receipt scanners.
• Receipt checks.
• Carts with locking technology

While some shoppers expect appliances and expensive products like perfume to be behind glass, many have fumed when finding essentials like underwear and toothpaste under lock and key .

Target has been told to “do better” by a fed-up shopper who found underwear behind plexiglass, saying the “last thing” she wanted to do was alert staffers for assistance.

“I used to go to Target, and I’d let Target tell me what I needed. Now deodorant, socks, body soap, underwear etc. are behind locked cases,” Tracey Thompson wrote on Facebook.

“I no longer go to Target ,” she said.

Walgreens has also come under fire for the move.

“I’m at a Walgreens in my Brooklyn neighborhood that has chosen to lock up nearly 100 percent of the toiletries and has chosen to take out all the buttons that call someone to open the locks,” a shopper wrote .

“Congrats, you have created a store that is literally impossible to shop at.”

Meanwhile, one Walmart shopper slammed the retailer saying the “store is hell” after a 10-minute trip was derailed when trying to buy some paint.

While introduced to protect inventory and keep prices lower for customers, locking up items behind plexiglass cases causes sales to drop by between 15% and 25%, Joe Budano, the CEO of anti-theft technology company Indyme told Axios last year.

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