For electronic and home appliance retailer Courts Singapore Pte Ltd. (Courts), the customer is their primary focus. Courts stores offer a diverse line of home product brands for a better value, attracting a loyal customer base to their interactive environment.

In 1974 the first Courts store was established in Singapore. By 1998 their retail format evolved into a "total home lifestyle concept" with the launch of "Courts Orchard," which offered a complete range of home furniture and accessories. In 2006 Courts Megastore was introduced -- the 116,000 square foot revolutionary retail concept, heralding the arrival of out-of-town destination shopping in Singapore.

As a retailer known for value that delivers bigger savings through bigger buying power, Courts needed to increase stock on the floor to drive their cash and carry business. Focused on the customer, their goal was to make merchandise more accessible to customers, while preserving the shopping experience without increasing the risk of theft.

The Challenge According to the 2009 Global Retail Theft Barometer retail segments such as consumer electronics and entertainment/music/games, merchandise lines conveniently available at Courts, are in the top 10 of the most-stolen items globally. Retailers worldwide lost more than $114 billion from shrink and inefficiencies in 2009 alone.

Specifically in the Asia-Pacific region shoplifting represented the highest source of shrink, at over 50 percent, followed by employee theft at 22 percent. Shoplifters tend to focus on popular, smaller, easily-concealed expensive items that offer high resale street value, some of which have metallic foil packaging. These items readily available at Courts required the right anti-theft solution capable of maintaining a consistent shopping experience which is Courts' top priority.

The Solution As retailers like Courts combat the universal shrink problem of frequently pilfered merchandise, they require effective solutions to ensure a more satisfying customer experience while helping to improve their bottom line. To attack shrink on multiple fronts, Courts relied on industry-leading provider ADT for an integrated electronic security solution approach to help protect their nine stores in Singapore while preserving customer convenience.

According to Mr. Eddie Nixon, Courts Regional Operations Director, "ADT delivered the right technology approach. Their integrated security strategy included ADT monitoring, Sensormatic electronic article surveillance (EAS) to help protect our stores against external theft or shoplifting, video surveillance to help us combat employee theft and vendor fraud layered with Sensormatic SmartEAS people counting real-time store intelligence to help us enhance store operations."

To help reduce shrink and increase sales of openly displayed merchandise, the Sensormatic Ultra•Max acousto-magnetic AM system provides Courts with a high performance anti-shoplifting solution designed to cover wide exit openings to protect high risk areas. AM-based EAS systems are the preferred anti-theft technology for retailers, especially for those like Courts that sell metallic foil packaging. Having their items protected by AM source tagged labels offers Courts customers the "hands on" experience that encourages product interaction for increased satisfaction.

Courts' technology strategy to help improve their business is evidenced also in their use of the Sensormatic SmartEAS people counting solution. Courts launched the solution to measure customer traffic and create a new Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for their branches; to identify how many people came into the stores versus the actual number of people that purchased items or sales conversion.

By comparing customer traffic to converted sales, for a time period, Courts can understand how their conversion rate is influenced by their promotions, customer service, store layout, etc. to better drive sales. This KPI enables Courts to measure customer engagement in stores, track marketing campaign effectiveness and highlight in-store customer flow management issues. They use people counting reports with their POS sales and transaction data to analyze and track their conversion rate, which is invaluable in helping Courts benchmark store performance across their chain and assist in setting strategies and goals aimed at increasing sales.

"KPI measuring has resulted in an increase in business and a double digit jump in the conversion rate. We recognize that investment in technology can reap significant rewards in terms of branding and brand image, greater operating efficiency and reduced operating expenses resulting in top and bottom line growth" Mr. Nixon added.

For more information on Sensormatic SmartEAS solutions visit www.Sensormatic.com/Products/StoreBusinessIntelligence2/SBI_SEASProducts.aspx.