Coupon Costs Supermarket over $180,000 in POS shrink

Coupon Costs Supermarket over $180,000 in POS shrink

A recent analysis of a manufacturer coupon at a large supermarket customer discovered over $180,000 of shrink. This particular incident was originally identified by Agilence analysts working in coordination with the loss prevention analysts at just one banner in a large grocery chain.

The coupon in question was a typical BOGO, Buy One Get Two Free, for a snack item. However, multiple issues were identified by analysts using the Hawkeye POS Video Auditing software from Agilence.

First, the coupon was incorrectly set-up in the POS as a variable coupon. This required the cashier to enter a value for the coupon. The coupon's stated value was $2.01. But, the variable amount was far greater. In fact, the retailer determined that the coupon was used over 36,000 times and 93% of the time the value was overstated by $1.99.

The second issue arose when it was determined that the UPC on the coupon matched another coupon for a different promotion from the same manufacturer causing even more loss.

In just 2 weeks this coupon, caused by poor promotion execution, cost the retailer over $180,000.

This is another example of the hidden shrink lurking at the POS and how operational and systemic errors and poor promotion execution can be far more costly than fraud.