Locked display cases, the theft-prevention measure that makes shopping less grab-and-go and more wait-and-see, aim to prevent shoplifting, but a new survey suggests that particular solution might be worse than the problem.

Upon discovering that an item they want to buy is in a locked case, less than one in three shoppers (32%) get a store employee to unlock the case, according to a reader survey from Consumer World, a consumer advocacy website. For 55% of respondents, it’s a lost sale, because when a product is locked up, they try to buy it elsewhere. The remaining 13% try to find an alternative product in the same store that is not locked up.

The online survey of 1,124 readers was conducted from September 2 through September 9.

Locked stock and barrel: Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who publishes Consumer World, knows how he would have filled out his survey.

“If I encounter a locked case, I’m not going to start looking for a store clerk going up and down every aisle or pressing the button and waiting for someone to come over,” Dworsky told Retail Brew. “But the fact that it was over 50% of people that felt the way I did? I was really surprised.”

Keep reading here.—AAN

Chief Revenue Officer Bill Watkins has been working at Pinterest for over a decade, and he said at least one thing has been true for 10+ years: “The No. 1 bit of user feedback we’ve gotten that entire time is: make shopping easier.”

Watkins was addressing an audience of retail media enthusiasts and ad tech developers on Sept. 17 at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Connected Commerce Summit, which took place about a month and a half after Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said that more than half of Pinterest users come with the intent to shop.

Watkins said that over the last two years, a wider product selection and Pinterest’s investments in artificial intelligence have made it easier for users to shop on the platform.

Keep reading here.—VC

Many complain about tipflation, the recently minted term for more businesses soliciting and expecting tips, a trend accelerated by those increasingly familiar choose-a-tip screens. Now a study by Gusto, a payroll and benefits platform, reveals just how ubiquitous tipping has become.

In July, 6.6% of retail stores in the US requested tips at checkout, compared to 3.8% that did so in July 2019, an increase of 70%.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Stay ahead of the curve. The future of retail is here, and that means it’s time to reevaluate your strategies for the next wave. If you need a pick-me-up, LTK is hosting a webinar that’ll cover future trends and provide strategies on leveraging AI to make smarter business decisions. Save your spot.