JD Sports to install EAS tag in all stores in Europe

Sports retailer JD Sports has decided to install electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag ‘The Concept Tag’ in over 200 stores in Europe after EAS led to the reduction of tagged garment theft by up to 75 per cent in stores in the UK, France and the Netherlands. JD Sports had partnered with Agon Systems to develop the Concept Tag four years ago.

The move will see the entirety of JD Sports’ fascia stores across Europe fitted with the anti-theft technology and will be completed in time for the key Christmas trading period.

Alongside the UK rollout, JD Sports is also installing the Concept Tag system in its newly acquired set of stores in Australia. It is calculated that a rollout of this innovation across a typical retailer’s estate, with an average 1.3 per cent stock loss, would add a four to five per cent increase in pre-tax profits.

Tim Edwards, group profit protection director of JD Sports Fashion said: “After working closely with Agon on the development of the Concept Tag, combined with the remarkable loss prevention statistics across the all European JD Sports stores, it was an easy decision to recommend rolling this out to more stores within the JD estate.”

“With Christmas a time that traditionally sees increased levels of retail crime, we are confident that getting the system in place by then will have a strong effect on our retail loss prevention efforts across the holiday period."