You are a district manager for Value Plus, a chain of drugstores. The district you manage has 20 stores, half being in a busy urban area and the other half located in the suburbs. Value Plus sells a large variety of health care products along with a pharmacy at each location. The retailer also sells an assortment of household items, beauty, food, seasonal and general merchandise.
In 2025, retailers across the nation reported a 70% increase in organized retail crime. The theft and losses totaled $69 billion among retailers in the country. The criminals are not stealing large expensive items, but instead small items in bulk that are easy to resell.
In response to the increase in theft, many retailers, including Value Plus, began putting some merchandise behind locked glass doors. It began with placing pricy items such as razors, baby formula and fragrances behind locked glass doors. When a customer wishes to purchase any of the merchandise located behind a locked glass door, they either need to find a store employee or push a call button that will notify employees that assistance is needed.
While this practice did reduce shrinkage in the products located in the locked cabinets, theft started occurring in other areas instead. Since Value Plus does not have the budget to hire additional employees to monitor each aisle, stores with the highest theft shrinkage has begun locking majority of their products in all departments behind in these glass cabinets.
Customers in the busy urban stores in your district are fed up with locked glass cabinets. When a customer needs something simple, such as a bottle of shampoo, the customer cannot read labels or smell products without first finding a Value Plus employee. When the store is very busy, oftentimes customers will leave without making a purchase because an employee takes too long to help. As a result, those Value Plus locations have seen a 15-20% decrease in same store sales.
The regional vice president wants you to analyze the use of locked glass cabinets. The analysis should include:
- All factors that contribute to operational risk
- How the locked glass cabinets align with Value Plus’S brand promise
- Ways the locked glass cabinets can affect competition
- Management of inventory shrinkage due to theft while demonstrating positive customer relations
You must make a recommendation on how all of your Value Plus stores should proceed with locked glass cabinets and retail theft reduction.
