c h a n g i n g r o o m s , c h a n g i n g b e h a v i o u r

R S A //

‘ D e s i g n o u t S h o p l i f t i n g ’

Research & Design Process

F r a s e r G i b b

What types of people shopl i f t?Why do/did you shopl i f t?

People

How do/did you perceive secur i ty? (guards, cameras, tags. . . )

Security

What do/did you commonly steal?Why?

Stealing

Offenders Before During After

I used Gumtree to find current shoplifters to gain insights to their behaviours, allowing participants to remain annonymous.

I also visited an initiative who deal with prison leavers, rehabilitating them back into society, many of whom were jailed for mutiple shoplifting offensives.

I presented the offenders and ex-offenders with a before-dur ing-after scener io asking how they feel / fe l t when shopl i f t ing, and how they do/d id i t .

Clothing, with a stat ist ical ly high rate

of cr ime alongside cosmetics, appears to be vunerable to

theft and al lowed my project to develop a

focus.

Stakeholders - who is involved in the shoplifting world?

Ex -Offenders

I spoke to staff in both ‘stack ‘em high’ large stock stores and more h igh-end stores to contrast the d i f fer ing exp er iences in re lat ion to thef t .

S ecur ity is managed di f f erent ly depending on the typ e of store, so I approached two very d i f ferent secur i ty teams.

“Changing rooms are the easy way to do i t”

Stu art , secur i ty guard“Without g iv ing away trade secrets as I ca l l them, i t ’s hard to expla in, i ts l ike doing something out of s ight, i ts eas ier when you know noone can see you.”

Kevi n, s ecur i ty g uar d

“ I t ’s impossible to keep track of what ’s going in and out, especia l ly at weekends”

emplo y ee at TKMaxx

Stakeholders - who is involved in the shoplifting world?

Staff

Security

moralsreputation

law

can’t see c lose detai l when your back is turned to the mirror

What stops someone from steal ing? I ident i f ied 3 key values that may play on the min d of a shopl i f ter.

numbered tagging - re l ies heavi ly on ass i tant ’s memory

cctv - “ I don’t know i f someone is watching me or not”

every i tem t ied down, and only one of each on d isplay

punishment

Existing Prevention Methods

Prevention Values

Professionals

middle-class

junkies-in-need-of-quick-fix/desperate

as an ‘occupation’

moralslaw reputation

steal-to-order

fuel a d r ug hab i thom el es s

group organisat ion

moralslaw reputation

Opportunists

moralslaw reputation

s p ur-of-the m om ent

s k i nt , want to s us tai n a l i festy le

m ake own m or al jus t i f i cat io nprogress ively become.. .

employees

moralslaw reputation

I considered why each ‘ type’ steal and what might be key to changing such behaviour. P laying on the employee and middle c lass conscious i s centra l to a lot of prevent ion, but thevies have to feel they are being watched and run a severe r isk of gett ing caught, to stop them even try ing.

Types of Shoplifters

1: ra i ls upon ra i ls 2: shelv ing 5: cash desk3: hangers 6: ex it

7 : eas system

4: changing rooms

The most obvious p lace to h ide - a pr ivate area within a seperate, h idden space of a store, inv is ib le to cctv and other shoppers.

In large stores th is i s current ly an easy environment to steal , compared to the shop f loor which is fu l l of people and survei l lance.

Clothes Shopping Touchpoints

queues are common - they a l low a shopl i f ter to jud g e how b us y the ar ea i s

pr imark - changing ro o ms give no indicat io n o f wh o is aro und

al l sa ints - tucked away but st i l l part o f sh o p f lo o r

G-star - changing rooms open o nto sh o pf lo o r

G-star - t iny mirror in ch anging to o m to fo rce customers to come out and v iew th emselves o n th e sh o pf lo o r

tag system in new look. very hard for ass istant to keep tr ack es p eci a l l y on b us y d ays

changing rooms a l low t ime to tamper with large tags unnot iced.

r iver i s land - have a wait ing area and ass istants constant ly present up and down the cubicals

puma - have s ty l i s h ( thoug h otherwise point less) instore screens f i lmi ng your feet

secur ity of the chang i ng ar ea r e l ys heavi l y on the v i g i l ance of the ass istants , who m or e often than not g et ver y b or ed and r es t l es s

Quiks i lver - mirrors o n o u ts ide o f ch anging ro o m do o rs

Observations

changing room

What Makes Changings Rooms ‘the easy way to do it’?

A shopl i f ter has a l l the t ime in the wor ld to mess with the tags, replace an o ld shirt with a new one, swap i tems and walk out -“ i t ’s a l l about b laggin ’ i t”

Why do changing rooms have to be at the back of a store? Aren’t they pr ivate enough?

Concepts

A centra l changing area that is out in the open , nowhere to h ide, pay stat ion at changing area. . .

Changing ‘pods’ that are only in use when need. . . on shop f loor-reduces pr ivacy aspect. . . semi-opaque mater ia l -reveal the shadows of a th ieve at work - ‘ is someone watching me?’

visibi l ity strong customer experience

Concepts

Focus on a strong customer exper ience by being able to pay in changing room.. .

Make the items themselves more vis ible , not necessary the person. . . what ro le can other customers play in the deterrent of shopl i f ters?. . . what goes in must come out. . .

clothes scanned on entry

items v isual ised on screen

items displayed outs ide each cubical

touchscreen ‘wardrobe’

Make items more vis ible . . . p lay on pass ive customer pol ic ing. . . develop a sense of

“who’s watching my i tems. .?”

Key Concept

Shoplifter’s Journey

Enter changing room area

Items scanned v ia RFID and displayed on screen for the benef it of shop ass istant and acts as a v isual deterrent

Shopper a l located a changing room. Others can see what other shoppers are t ry ing on

Arr ives at a l located room

Greeted by a personal ‘wardrobe’ in cubic le. This acts as a further deterrent, indicat ing that ‘ the system’ knows what you have a lso.

Shopper can browse ‘wardrobe’ for other i tems and access further features (see next page)

Shopl i f ter attempts to leave but the large v isual screen highl ights there is an i tem miss ing

A personal ised wardrobe d isplays c lothing s izes, colours, a l ternat ives (1) , a stock checker and locator (2) . . . i .e saves a customer f rom hunt ing for a hoodie when i t could just be in the changing room area i tse l f. Opt ion to send i tem your emai l to ‘ th ink about i t later ’ (3) . . . subt le ‘ t imer ’ (4) control led by the changing room ass istant to b e used on busy per iod s to control potent ia l queues - d isplayed on customer screen.

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Touchscreen Interactions

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Maxime Fraser: Retails Against Crime (RAC)

Feedbackretailers against crime & the cardinal group

Having sent my design summary in PDF by email, I received positive feedback from both ‘Retails Against Crime’ - a Group that represents many major retailers with issues regarding shoplifting, and ‘Cardinal Group’ - a group who fit shop security systems across the country. They recognise the design’s strength in preventing changing room theft, though also note its marketing capabilities.

Danielle Page: The Cardinal Grpup