Program Profile: Keeper Boxes

Keeper Boxes are clear, polycarbonate boxes that are designed to protect so-called hot products in retail stores by placing selected merchandise in the sturdy lock boxes. The program is rated Promising. At the 13-week follow-up, shrinkage (or unexplained unit loss) statistically significantly decreased by 52 percent while sales statistically significantly increased by 69 percent in the experimental stores that used Keeper Boxes compared with the control stores that did not use Keeper Boxes.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals/Program Components

Keeper Boxes, also known as safer boxes, are clear, polycarbonate boxes that are designed to protect “hot products” in retail stores by placing selected merchandise in sturdy lock boxes. The boxes allow retailers to protect products at high risk of being stolen while openly displaying them, rather than requiring employees to assist customers with product selection (which may reduce in-store sales). The boxes are difficult to open without a special key, and a large cracking plastic noise is made if someone tries to remove the product from a box without the key. The boxes are also large, making theft of a product more difficult and time consuming.

Target Population

The Keeper Boxes are designed to prevent and deter theft by shoplifters. Boxes are generally used to protect high loss or “hot products. For example, premium razor blade replacement packs are considered very high-loss items for some retailers because they are in high demand for regular personal use, relatively expensive, and small and readily concealable, and they can be converted into cash or drugs at flea markets, local stores, or over the Internet (Hayes et al. 2011). Keeper Boxes allow retailers to display the blade packs but protect the merchandise from shoplifters at the same time.

Program Theory

The use of Keeper Boxes to protect merchandise in retail stores is grounded in the principles of situational crime prevention and rational choice theory. The situational theoretical framework maintains that crime can be prevented if people are demotivated and better controlled; targets are made less profitable or more difficult or risky to attack; and place managers and others are more motivated to prevent crime (Felson and Boba 2009). Rational choice theory suggests behavior inside retail stores would be rational in that individuals will likely calculate the risk, effort, and potential benefit of stealing merchandise (Cornish and Clarke 2003). The basic design of the Keeper Boxes (i.e., the large sizes, obstructions to opening the boxes, and loud noises made from unauthorized product removal) follow the principles of situational crime prevention and rational choice theory by increasing the calculated theft effort and perceived risk of detection, while decreasing the potential rewards.

Study 1

Hayes and colleagues (2011) employed a randomized controlled trial to study the effectiveness of Keeper Boxes on the loss and sales of the ?hot product? premium razor blade replacement packs. The study was conducted in 10 supermarket stores during October 2007 through February 2008. An initial list of 216 stores of a major U.S. supermarket chain operating in the southeastern part of the country was used to identify potential study sites. A stratified random process was then used to identify a list of 19 high razor pack sales and loss-volume locations. From there, 10 stores were randomly selected for the study. The sites were randomly assigned to either experimental (n=5) or control (n=5) conditions.

Data was collected on the sales and loss of razor packs for 69 different wet shaving products. Biweekly counts of the in-store blade products were collected and reconciled with the reported item shipments to stores along with items sales, returns, or transfers. The sales of razor blade pack units were determined by electronic point of sales data. Data was collected for a 9-week pretest period and a 13-week posttest period.

There were two primary outcomes: product sales and shrinkage (or product loss) of the razor pack units. Product sales were determined by looking at the total sales of each product at each store for each time period. However, only four of the five experimental stores were used in the analysis on product sales because one of the stores experienced a significant decline in sales, which may have been due to measurement error. Shrinkage, or unexplained unit loss, was determined by adding the initial product count to the shipped product count, then deducting the amount of merchandise that should have been in stock. That figure was then subtracted from the actual in-stock count, and the result was divided by the expected in-stock total. A value of zero indicated proper balance among the count, ship, and sales data. A negative number indicated that merchandise was lost. The data was examined using chi-square values and odds ratios.

No subgroup analyses were conducted. 

Hayes and colleagues (2011) examined the return on investment of Keeper Boxes. They looked at the costs of purchasing and maintaining the equipment compared with the potential financial benefits that come from increased sales and reduced shrinkage. The analysis looked at the costs and benefits during the study period and over a 3-year estimated lifespan of the Keeper Boxes. The initial purchase cost of the Keeper Boxes was $5,978.05 during the study period. Based on the results from the 13-week follow-up period of the study, the benefits of using the Keeper Boxes (based on reduced shrinkage and increase sales in the experimental stores compared with the control stores) was only $4,173.58, which did not offset the costs of purchasing the boxes. However, over the 3-year lifespan, the net benefit was $10,661.24.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Cornish, Derek B., and Ronald V. Clarke. 2003. “Opportunities, Precipitators, and Criminal Decisions: A Reply to Wortley’s Critique of Situational Crime Prevention.” Prevention Studies 16:41–96.

Felson, Marcus K., and Rachel Boba. 2009. Crime and Evidence Day Life, Fourth Edition. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.