Walmart has taken a big step to stop people from stealing at self-checkout. They added a feature that will help honest shoppers and make it harder for people to steal things from stores.
Walmart’s New Self-Checkout Tech
A Walmart shopper finds something cool in a TikTok movie that has been watched over 200,000 times. She can scan Great Value items without a normal barcode. A lot of people watched the movie.
Walmart and the tech company Digimarc have worked together to add this new feature. Digimarc’s high-tech barcodes cost Walmart $3 million a year to put in its shops.
The company Digimarc says that these barcodes can’t be seen by humans. They’re written on the boxes, and self-checkout machines make it easy to get them. Thieves are less likely to steal because screening goes faster.
In 2022, Walmart deepened its partnership with Digimarc. The goal? To improve shopping for paying customers and to fight theft.
- Invisible Codes: The codes are hidden, making checkout easy for shoppers.
- Better Security: The tech makes it harder for thieves to trick the system.
- Faster Operations: The updated system helps Walmart run more smoothly.
Datalogic, a Digimarc partner, said that screening is now much faster. Digimarc said in a news release, “You don’t need to find barcodes anymore.” This makes it easy for customers to scan themselves. A camera can also scan more than one thing at the same time.
Walmart Tackles Rising Theft
Walmart is making changes to its self-checkout machines so they can find things that haven’t been scanned. A study from Gitnux says that the company loses about $3 billion a year to theft.
Growing Inventory Losses at Walmart
John Furner, CEO of Walmart U.S., talked about “shrink” on a results call on August 17. The word “shrink” refers to lost goods due to theft, damage, or other problems. “This year and last year, shrink has gone up,” he said. Not everywhere is the same.
Walmart is making changes to its self-checkout systems to make them less likely to be stolen from, either by chance or on purpose. The goal of this upgrade is to make it easier to keep track of goods and lower the loss of money due to theft.
As shopping changes, these problems need to be fixed in all shops, not just Walmart. Self-checkout lanes with better protection make shopping safer and easier for everyone.
How Do Invisible Barcodes Work? What Are the Benefits?
Barcodes that can’t be seen are tiny designs that are printed on labels and packages. They can’t be seen by people, but certain apps and scanners can. What they do and how they work are listed below:
How They Work:
- Printed as tiny patterns on labels or inside clear packaging.
- The pattern repeats, so even damaged packaging can be scanned.
- Special software picks up the barcode as the package is scanned.
- Scanners with cameras read the code, unlike traditional laser scanners.
Benefits to Consumers:
- Shoppers can scan packaging with their phone for disposal or recycling info.
- Checkout is quicker because the barcode can be scanned from any side.
- More space on the packaging for branding since the barcode is invisible.
- Can hold extra info, like marketing content, beyond just product details.
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