Walmart quietly rolls out new way to curb theft at self-checkout

Walmart (WMT) has quietly rolled out a new feature at its stores that is beneficial for paying customers, but bad news for thieves.

In a recent TikTok video, which has amassed over 200,000 views, a Walmart customer showed herself scanning Great Value items through a self-checkout machine at Walmart without using a barcode.

“Omg guys you can literally just scan the item anywhere and it’ll go through,” read the overlay text in the video.

The discovery comes after Walmart partnered with Digimarc, the company that’s behind the new feature, to innovate its barcodes for $3 million a year.

In 2022, Walmart expanded its partnership with the tech company in order to “help further optimize store operations.”

According to Digimarc’s website, the technology involves embedding codes that are “invisible to the human eye” on product packaging, which makes it easier be detected at self-checkout machines.

“The scanning speed goes up significantly according to Digimarc technology partner Datalogic,” said Digimarc in a press release. “Hunting for barcodes during the scanning process becomes unnecessary, which eases the self-scanning for customers. The imaging cameras can also pick up several products at the same time.”

Miami, Hialeah Gardens, Fla., Walmart Supercenter, Self-service checkout customer scanning and paying.

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

Growing theft is becoming a headache for retailers

The move from Walmart comes after shoplifting has grown to become a significant problem for retailers over the past few years. In 2022, retail theft resulted in industry losses of $112.1 billion, compared to $93.9 billion in losses the previous year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Retail theft can often be tied to self-checkout machines where shoppers can simply neglect properly scanning items by hiding the barcode from sensors.

A recent survey by LendingTree found that 15% of consumers have purposely stolen an item at self-checkout, and only 33% were caught. Also, 21% of consumers said they’ve accidentally taken an item while using self-checkout.

So it is no surprise that Walmart is making it easier for self-checkout machines to detect items customers may be scanning, especially since the company loses about $3 billion per year due to theft, according to a recent report for Gitnux.

Walmart faces increasing inventory losses

During an earnings call on Aug. 17, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner revealed that shrink (which is how much a company loses in inventory due to theft, damage, etc.) has recently increased at the company’s U.S. stores.

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“Shrink has increased a bit this year,” said Furner. “It increased last year. It’s uneven across the country. It’s not in every market. Some markets are higher than others.”

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon also stated during the call that crime is a major issue that is contributing to an uptick in shrink.

“We do think that in some jurisdictions here in the U.S., there needs to be action taken to help protect people from crime, including theft,” said McMillon. “The other part of shrink is more controllable.”