Coveris ramps up security label production

Coveris has ramped up its security label production in response to a surge in retail theft, which is reported to almost double to 45,000 incidents a day and costs UK retailers around 1.8bn GBP annually.

According to the manufacturer, shoplifting in England and Wales has recently hit its highest level in more than 20 years, driven by rising prices and cost of living. With the British Retail Consortium announcing that cases have almost doubled to 45,000 incidents a day, the current cost to UK retail is estimated at around 1.8bn GBP annually.

Coveris said retailers are now stepping up security measures to combat theft of higher-value food and non-food goods, including meat, cheese and beverages, to minimize shrinkage and maximize on-shelf availability.

As a manufacturer of loss-prevention label tags under its SourceTag brand, Coveris supplies all major retailers.

Reducing costs, the number of SKUs and the need for secondary tag application, Coveris’ composite SourceTag labels integrate RF (radio frequency) or AM (acoustic magnetic) tags to provide a singular security label that works with existing electronic article surveillance (EAS) antenna systems instore.

The tags are applied during the label manufacturing process to create covert security, removing the need for secondary SKUs and in-store applications.

Coveris’ security labels work with self-checkouts, where around 80 percent of retail sales are estimated to occur. With tags deactivated at the sale, there are also major time savings at the point of purchase with no requirement for removal.

Given the rise in theft and the increase in volume required to counter the problem, Coveris is now investing in further capabilities and R&D to boost production, security formats and sustainable impact.

Nigel Hewitt, sales director of Coveris’ paper division, said: ‘We are working really hard alongside our retail and manufacturing partners to not only reduce in-store theft, but also waste, as part of our No Waste vision. Compared to secondary tagging, our current SourceTag labels offer a more sustainable solution as well as reducing SKUs, cost, process and time. However, delivery of a fully sustainable solution is a pioneering development that we are looking to launch within the market imminently.’