Carrefour allies with Checkpoint Systems for source-tagging

Checkpoint Systems, Inc., a provider of radio frequency-based product identification and shrink management solutions for retailers and consumer package goods manufacturers worldwide, has announced the signing of a strategic agreement with Carrefour, Europe’s largest retailer, to roll out an aggressive source-tagging program to help reduce shrink.

Carrefour’s source-tagging strategy to help protect merchandise at the point of manufacture hopes to tap into Checkpoint’s global network and provide a benchmark for other global retailers who, according to the Center for Retail Research, collectively lost $38 billion to shrinkage last year.

The agreement is a step forward for Checkpoint’s Radio Frequency (RF) source tagging program, as it creates a controlled and consistent environment for Carrefour’s product protection worldwide.

The protection of merchandise at the point of manufacture frees up retail staff to help customers by providing ‘shelf-ready’ protected items straight to stores, making it more difficult for shoplifters and staff to steal.

The agreement will also see Checkpoint’s Digital RF technology installed in all 179 of Carrefour’s hypermarkets in France. This move will help all retailers improve product flows and effectively combat shoplifting, which represented a loss of more than $6 billion in France alone.

Checkpoint Systems will supply 7,800 third-generation digital RF antennas and 8,300 new-generation CP IX deactivators and scanners for checkout counters. The company will also deploy 179 Checkpro Manager software suites and the accompanying remote-maintenance application. The installation rollout should be completed by the end of 2007.

With this strategy, Carrefour will have a single anti-shrink program driven by a single technology across its entire group of stores. Close global cooperation with Carrefour’s offices in Hong-Kong and China should help speed deployment of the source-tagging program worldwide.

In addition to equipping its stores with anti-shrink technology, Carrefour is launching an aggressive source-tagging program. To accomplish this, RF EAS (electronic article surveillance) labels will be integrated into high-theft products at the point of manufacturing, including apparel, multimedia and alcoholic beverages.

Source tagging helps retailers respond to consumers’ increasingly high expectations for product presentation, speed to shelf and shelf availability.

‘We needed to shift to RF technology to develop source-tagging, facilitate the consumer’s shopping experience and improve speed to shelf,’ said Jean-Claude Coutant, manager of the source-tagging project for Carrefour Hyper, France’s non-food supply chain. ‘Now we’ve got a skilled and committed partner to help us develop our program.’

Bernard Thobald of the Perifem retailers’ technical association noted: ‘All retailers would like to see greater use of source-tagging. Perifem will set up working groups on this topic to support source-tagging, which will expand through France and the rest of Europe, based on the momentum generated by Carrefour.’

‘This decision from Carrefour Group is strategically important for other leading retailers,’ said Per Levin, President of Checkpoint Systems Europe. ‘Suppliers of consumer goods and retailers now have the opportunity to develop winning strategies together, to sell more and lose less.’