Few things frustrate customers more than having to wait on a store associate to access locked-up shaving razors or allergy meds. There you are, standing in aisle three, staring at an item behind the glass display case. You pressed the red button three minutes ago, but you are frozen in locked-case limbo.
More retailers are giving customers the power to unlock these display cases using an AI -powered app on their smartphones. CVS is the latest to do it. On January 28, 2025, the company announced the launch of the CVS Health app with new features, including “the capability – being tested in a handful of stores – to use the app to open locked display cabinets for easier access to merchandise.” The app is an upgrade of a previous version.
The unlocking feature is being pilot-tested in New York City at several stores, and CVS plans to expand testing to locations in other states as well.
“As a company, we are super focused on improving the health care experience,” says Tilak Mandadi, Executive Vice President at CVS Health. “The CVS Health app will make it easier for our customers to access and manage their health and care, save time and money, and make informed decisions about their health.”
A CVS ExtraCare customer follows a few simple steps to access items behind locked display cases, said Tara Burke, media relations specialist with CVS Health, in an interview with Techstrong. It starts with opening the CVS Pharmacy app on a smartphone, and then pressing the blue “in-store” button on the bottom of the screen. The customer then presses the “Unlock Case” button, followed by “Unlock.”
By placing the phone close to the lock, the Bluetooth function goes to work. A beep notifies the customer that the case lock is open. After choosing an item, customers close the door to the locked position.
The app has other functions as well. It contains an AI-powered search that “helps consumers locate products, services and information from across CVS Health and select third-party content providers” and helps them get their prescriptions easier, with a personalized barcode accessible through the app.
Many of the upgrades were underway through 2024, and CVS promises more – including a new conversational AI chat “experience that enables patients to check medication refills, the status of their orders and more.”
“This app is the health concierge and guide for all consumers,” said Tony Ambrozie, senior vice president and chief digital and technology officer for CVS Health Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness. “With 60 million digital customers, we are excited to continue to innovate and bring best-in-class and first-in-industry capabilities to our customers.”
Retailers have for years locked up items ranging from everyday toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, and cosmetics, to small electronics, items that retailers identify through inventory to be choice products of thieves. In locking up those items, retailers have drawn the ire of customers, but they must consider massive losses due to shoplifting. In implementing the anti-theft layer, retailers have experienced a decline in sales of those products, by some measures as much as 20%.
“Shrink”, a retail term, refers to loss of products by shoplifting, internal theft, damaged goods, cashier errors and vendor issues. It costs retailers $123.4 billion globally, according to Indyme Solutions, an international company that specializes in loss prevention. The company that has its U.S. headquarters in San Diego, CA, counts hundreds of retail clients globally.
The average time a customer spends waiting for a store associate to show up with the keys is almost two minutes, based on a shopper survey of 800 customers by Indyme. In that survey, 63% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the locked case experience.
Indyme created the Freedom Case, based on the concept of value exchange where “shoppers trade some personal identifying information for the convenience of self-service access to locked merchandise.”
With the Freedom Case, the customer receives a text with an access code to open the case, or they can use a facial recognition feature which eliminates the need for a smartphone. There are other AI features embedded in the Freedom Case, with built-in sensors to identify “suspicious behavior” in real time.
“Once suspicious behaviors are detected, Freedom Case instantly deploys Active Deterrence through its built-in speaker and touchscreen. Store associates can also be notified of suspicious activity. And because shrink has many sources, stocking occasions are monitored as well to protect against internal theft. Retailers can access detailed data, photos and video of suspicious shopper and stocking events. Indyme AI technology is the engine behind the concept of Targeted Friction, empowering your loyal customers with self-service access while denying offenders.”
