Efficient Planning and Product Expertise Allowed Shoppers Drug Mart to Move Quickly to Avoid Loss

You‘ve seen it in the news and possibly even experienced it in your stores. Crime has affected drug and grocery retailers across the country. From teenage theft rings to masked thieves, organized retail crime is on the rise. 

What is organizational retail crime and how can you stop it from hurting your retail business? Organized retail crime is a $5 billion industry in Canada annually, leading to increased prices at checkout and violence against employees.

The Challenge:

While Shoppers Drug Mart has transitioned higher-value products like electronics and baby formula to lock-up displays, perfumes were still on open shelves. Despite the logistical and operational challenges, they needed to significantly reduce theft while balancing the impact on customer experience at 1200 locations nationwide.

“The challenge was widespread, affecting stores nationally. Losses were reaching tens of thousands of dollars daily. People were literally walking out the store with bags of high-value stolen goods.” Michael Benarroch, General Manager, CBSF

The Solution:

Shoppers Drug Mart stores across Canada would need to install custom and standardized lock-up systems, tailored to each store’s unique layout.

The Ask

The project would require site surveys, prototyping, and the need to adapt to unknown site-specific challenges; all within tight timelines.

Efficient planning, production, and installation would be required across 1,200 Shoppers Drug Mart locations nationwide, with the first phase completed by the end of 2023, and the remainder in the first half of 2024.

The Process

After winning the project through the RFP process, CBSF worked closely with the Shoppers team to provide both standard and custom lock-up systems. The displays, a combination of painted metal and glass, were tailored to each store’s unique layout and needs.

The project was a massive undertaking. And that’s because different stores, built at different times, had slight variations in their display setups.

Approximately 70% of the installs went as expected, with the remaining 30% requiring alterations on-site.

Site surveys: Over the course of two months, close to 300 site surveys were completed nationwide.

Production: As the site surveys came in, we immediately put units into production. During a six-week production timeline, we produced the store-specific painted metal displays. Glass was ordered from a trusted vendor and assembled in-house by our team.

Delivery: To avoid installation delays, the displays were delivered to each store a few days before the scheduled installation date.

Installation: Within six weeks, our installation teams began visiting stores. Shoppers Drug Mart’s major focus was to limit store downtime and avoid impacting customer experience. Through careful planning and an experienced team, we were able to cut installation time down to a four-hour window. In many cases, our crews were able to complete two installs per day.

Problem-solving: Originally, we believed that the majority of the store locations would have standard, non-customized displays. However, the site surveys and installation teams quickly revealed that many locations had unmarked alterations that were not noted on any existing site plans. This meant that much more custom work was required. Our team quickly found solutions for stores requiring custom work and was able to make adjustments in close to real-time.

The Results Are In

Approximately 4,050 units were installed across 1200 Shoppers Drug Mart stores nationwide. As a direct result of these installations, Shoppers Drug Mart reports that theft has been reduced by over 90 percent, saving them from daily losses in the tens of thousands.

What Sets CBSF Apart?

What made CBSF the clear choice for this Shoppers Drug Mart project? 

Project management: While Shoppers Drug Mart in-store personnel and district managers were involved, CBSF was responsible for managing and maintaining the production and installation schedule and coordinating all elements to ensure the successful installation nationwide.

Product expertise: Although many more locations needed customization than originally planned, our experience and expertise ensured that we could adapt quickly.

“Once we see what’s onsite, we know exactly what’s needed to make the installation work. Whereas, if one vendor does planning, another manufacturing and a third installation, co-ordinating each of the different vendors would have been a nightmare. So our product knowledge and experience meant we could come up with solutions and make it easier for the Shoppers team than anybody else.” Michael Benarroch, General Manager, CBSF

As one of Canada’s largest retail environment design-builders, at CBSF we have over 20 years of experience building thousands of retail environments for hundreds of North America’s largest and smallest brands.

Our reputation for doing what it takes to get the job done was a key factor, as was our extensive product line and project management expertise and ability to meet tight timelines and manage custom requirements.