SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., (November 6, 2018) – Leading retail researcher and industry organization, the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), has conducted new study on the first EAS tag made specifically for small leather goods, the FlatGuard, made by emerging retail product protection leader, CONTROLTEK.
The study consisted of exposing ten known offenders to the FlatGuard technology and taking them through LPRC’s “See-Get-Fear” interview protocol. “Offender reactions to the FlatGuard seemed to support a story of overall deterrence,” the report states. “They rated the tag highly as a deterrent, and indicated by and large that the tag would result in them abandoning their plan to steal the protected product.”
The report also notes several humorous parts of the study, like the one when “the offender interviewed was mid-sentence exuberantly denouncing the tag’s deterrent value as he pulled it off, at which time his plan to turn the on/off switch to ‘off’ failed, and his confidence quickly turned to panic as he dropped the wallet and took several steps backward.”
The research report found that 100 percent of offenders studied in the LPRC Lab identified the FlatGuard tag as a deterrent. Additionally, “100 percent of offenders also understood the mechanism of the tag, correctly guessing that the tag had a built in alarm that would sound if removed and would set off the EAS pedestals.”
FlatGuard is a very thin EAS tag that easily fits inside wallets, purses and other similar merchandise, protecting them from loss prevention without puncturing the leather like traditional tags. Since it is so slim, it does not detract from the shopping experience, and can easily slide into a wallet almost like a credit card. FlatGuard has an EAS ferrite and an anti-tamper 95-decibel alarm to alert retailers if a shoplifter attempts to remove the tag.
“FlatGuard makes it easier to protect small leather goods, and retailers are affirming this with their positive response to this specialized product,” said Tom Meehan, CONTROLTEK’s Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. “The LPRC study makes it absolutely clear that this tag is a deterrent to thieves, who rated it a much better deterrent than a typical LP situation. It has delivered an effective solution for the challenges of small retail items that can otherwise be easily removed and hidden for theft.”
For more information and to download a copy of the report, click this link.