Locked-Up Goods a Double-Edged Sword

Three-fifths of shoppers report seeing locked-up merchandise on a regular basis, and 27% said they would switch retailers or abandon the purchase rather than wait for help getting access to such product. Those figures are from a new report by data/tech company Numerator, which was sourced from verified purchase data and a sentiment survey of over 5000 consumers.

Other key findings from the survey include:

60% of shoppers report seeing locked-up merchandise on a regular basis. Among shoppers who encounter locked-up products, 28% report seeing them every time they shop, 32% see them sometimes, and 29% see them often. Only 11% of shoppers say they rarely see locked-up products.
Shoppers are noticing more locked-up products than ever before, with 61% of shoppers reporting seeing an increase in the number of products under lock and key over the past year, 33% have not noticed a change and 7% say there are fewer items locked up now.
Shoppers most often see locked-up items at drug stores and mass retailers. The stores where consumers see the most product lock-ups are mass retailers (68% of consumers), drug stores (62%), grocery stores (31%), department stores (25%), and home improvement stores (23%). Dollar stores (18%) see the lowest levels of lock-ups.
Drug stores provide better assistance accessing locked-up merchandise. At a retailer level, CVS (+16%), Walgreens (+12%) and Target (+12%) had the highest net ratings for easy assistance retrieving locked items, while Walmart (-13%) had the lowest. (Net ratings showcase the difference between the percent of consumers who say getting assistance is easy and the percent who say it is difficult.)
The most observed locked-up items are personal electronics such as smartphones and tablets (58% of consumers report seeing), OTC medications (38%), physical media (36%), personal hygiene products (34%), makeup & cosmetics (33%), large electronics (32%), and accessories (29%).
More than a quarter of shoppers say a retailer loses their purchase when items are locked up. On the other hand, 62% of shoppers say they typically wait for assistance when they encounter such merchandise and 9% say they order the item online from that same retailer. However, 17% say they will switch retailers (10% online, 7% in-store), and 10% say they will abandon the purchase altogether.

Click here for more from the study.