The sports clothing retailer JD Sports is rolling out installation of an electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag to over 200 stores after in-store trials of tagged garments in the UK, France and the Netherlands. All JD Sports’ fascia stores across Europe will be fitted with the anti-theft The Concept Tag, pictured, and will be completed in time for the 2017 Christmas trading period. The roll-out comes four years after JD Sports partnered with the Swiss EAS equipment manufacturer Agon Systems to test and develop the Concept Tag.
Alongside the UK rollout, JD Sports is also installing the Concept Tag system in its newly acquired set of stores in Australia. The retailer reckons on a roll-out of this product across a retailer’s estate, with an average 1.3pc stock loss, would add a 4 to 5 per cent increase in pre-tax profits.
Tim Edwards, Group Profit Protection Director of JD Sports Fashion PLC, said: “After working closely with Agon on the development of the Concept Tag, combined with the remarkable loss prevention statistics across the all European JD Sports stores, it was an easy decision to recommend rolling this out to more stores within the JD estate. With Christmas a time that traditionally sees increased levels of retail crime, we are confident that getting the system in place by then will have a strong effect on our retail loss prevention efforts across the holiday period.”
And Sean Welch, Managing Director of Agon Systems, said: “We are delighted that JD Sports has made the decision to push the Concept Tag out to such a large number of stores across Europe. It is a testament to the effectiveness of the system and is more proof that it’s a sure-fire way to dramatically improve a retailer’s bottom line.”
The extended trial in JD Sports’ sites in Oxford Street in London’s West End, the Trafford and Arndale Centres in Manchester, and the Bull Ring in central Birmingham, besides Glasgow, Stratford, Newcastle, Amsterdam, Nice, Marseille and Lyon saw tagged garment theft reduced by 50pc to 75pc. The product company reports from tests that it would take over 50 kilograms of pressure applied to force the tag off of a garment – meaning it would likely cause damage to the garment, or thief, if attempted.
The tag can work with radio-frequency (RF) and acousto-magnetic (AM) products.
