GIANT EAGLE HOPES TO CHECK OUT CASHIER SHRINK

DAN ALAIMO

PITTSBURGH -- Giant Eagle is cutting back on shrink at the front end in its Cleveland area stores with point-of-sale shrink-tracking software.

The Windows NT-based software was installed earlier this year and the retailer hopes to upgrade the Unix-based software it uses in its Pittsburgh stores to the NT version later in the year, said Dave McGeary, retail technology advisor. Giant Eagle has 202 stores in total and 55 in the Cleveland area, according to the company's Web site.

In an improvement over the Unix version, the NT version of the Shrink Trax program from Trax Software & Consulting, Scottsdale, Ariz., automatically generates weekly reports and e-mails them directly to store management, McGeary said. "They no longer have to generate the report on their own. It is automatically delivered to them via our normal infrastructure processes. That is a significant enhancement," he said.

While Giant Eagle has not done any studies on how much the new system has reduced shrink, making the change was justified because of the increased ease of use, he said. "There is less required on the part of store management to get to this report and analyze it. It is delivered to them by e-mail. They don't have to do anything except read it," he said.

McGeary cited anecdotal evidence that shrink has decreased in the Cleveland stores. "Because we implemented the Shrink Trax program, store personnel is generally more aware that we are watching shrink. Anytime you implement something that looks at a problem area, people start to consider what they do," he said.

The new version also enables retailers to add components that monitor shrink in scales, direct store delivery and by means of closed circuit television cameras. "They have other applications on their NT platform that we are interested in pursuing," he said.

The retailer has only just begun to consider these components but has no timetable for adding them, he added. "We've implemented Shrink Trax and it seems to work, and we will continue to pursue their other applications," McGeary said.