Controlling Trolley Pushout Thefts

Background and Context

A perennial concern for many retailers is the extent to which they are victims of thefts where stolen items are simply wheeled out of their stores using trolleys provided to consumers – trolley push-out thefts. This study offers a unique insight into not only the scale and extent of the problem but also an evaluation of an intervention focused upon addressing the issue of trolley push-out thefts – the Purchek technology developed by Gatekeeper Systems which utilises trolley wheel-locking technology.

The study is based upon the experiences of two major UK Grocers, with combined sales more than £50 billion a year and over 2,000 stores. Utilising data sets collected before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic, results are presented from 239 installations of the Intervention covering three 15-week periods of data collection. In addition, the study also carried out a detailed analysis of over 900 recorded incidents of trolley push-outs to understand more about the context in which these events take place.

Key Findings

Scale and Extent of Trolley Push-outs

• It is estimated that a Grocery retail store that has some indicators of elevated levels of overall risk, with annual sales of approximately £40 million, is likely to experience at least 140 trolley-push-outs a year (almost three a week), costing in the region of £31,500 a year. Put another way, it is calculated that trolley push-outs may account for approximately 4% of all unknown stock loss (shrinkage).

• It is estimated that the average cost of a trolley push-out incident is £224, although some incidents were valued at more than £2,000.

Profile of Trolley Push-outs

• Incidents costing £200 or more account for one-quarter of all recorded incidents (26%) but represent nearly two-thirds of all the value (64%). The data seems clear – a relatively small proportion of high-value trolley push-outs generate a significant amount of loss.
• Of those stopped, 21% went on to pay for the products they were trying to steal. Most acted alone, with just 10% being in concert with one or more other offenders. Those acting in a group (two or more) were far more likely to try and steal higher value quantities of stock – more than double the amount attempted by singleton offenders.