ICA Maxi Lindhagen, Sweden

Speed gate installation reduces shrinkage and improves loss prevention in retail store

Background

ICA is one of Sweden’s leading supermarkets accounting for roughly one half of all groceries sold in the country. ICA has around 2,000 shops located all over Sweden ranging from small convenience stores to large out-of-town hypermarkets.

Most of ICA’s stores are owned and run separately with central co-ordination from the ICA Group.

Challenge

ICA Maxi Lindhagen is a large supermarket located in central Stockholm. The supermarket is built on two floors and receives around 60,000 visitors and 32,000 paying customers each week.

The store was experiencing a problem with shrinkage through the theft of large volumes of high-ticket items which were simply being taken back out of the store entrance. With the entrance to the supermarket located on the upper floor, it was more or less unmonitored.

ICA Maxi Lindhagen needed an entrance solution which would prevent people from walking out of its store with unpaid goods, but which would still allow customers to pass in unhindered.

The gates also had to cope with the frequent throughput of visitors and have an attractive design.

Solution

ICA Maxi Lindhagen installed three Gunnebo SpeedStiles in the entrance to its store. Installation was carried out without disruption to general business – an important factor stressed by the supermarket’s Managing Director, Mats Larsson:

“ During installation, customers continue to use the supermarket of course so it was essential that everything still ran smoothly. ”

“ If you have big problems preventing goods being stolen, I would recommend Gunnebo SpeedStiles – they create security for staff and customers alike. ”

Once the gates were installed, they put a stop to people going back out through the supermarket entrance. As a result thieves started to find other ways to get out, such as climbing over the trolleys. With a little building work, this led the supermarket to block off these final weak spots and now there is no route out of the shop with stolen goods.

Even with this level of security, the SpeedStiles provide no barrier to shoppers entering the supermarket and are designed in a way which enhances to the overall look of the entrance.

Customer Benefits

• High operational reliability

• Tighter security

• Reduced losses from theft

• Attractive design

• Hassle-free installation