Carrefour Chooses Checkpoint to Protect its Profits

Carrefour Chooses Checkpoint to Protect its Profits

February 28, 2006

As European Retailers Lose Euro 32 Billion to "Shrink", Carrefour is to "Source Tag" Products to Reduce Losses and Improve the Consumer Shopping Experience

    HONG KONG, Feb. 28 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Europe's
biggest retailer Carrefour has signed a strategic agreement
with Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP), the global leader in
product identification and shrink management solutions, to
roll-out the world's most ambitious "source
tagging" programme to reduce losses including customer
and staff theft.

    (Photo: 
http://xprnnews.xfn.info/Checkpoint/20060228/carrefour.htm
)

    Carrefour's strategy to protect merchandise at the
point of manufacture, will tap into Checkpoint's global
network and provide the benchmark for other global
retailers who collectively lost euro 32 billion to
shrinkage last year (Source: European Retail Theft
Barometer No 5 published by the Centre for Retail
Research).

    The eight-figure deal is a giant step forward for
Checkpoint's Radio Frequency (RF) source tagging programme,
as it creates a controlled and consistent environment for
Carrefour's product protection worldwide.  

    The protection of merchandise at the point of
manufacture frees up retail staff time by providing
"shelf-ready" protected items straight to stores,
making it more difficult for shoplifters and dishonest staff
to steal.  

    The agreement will also see Checkpoint's Digital RF
technology being installed in all 179 Carrefour's
hypermarkets in France.  RF is rapidly becoming standard
technology across Europe.  This move will help all
retailers improve product flows and effectively combat
shoplifting which represented a loss more than euro 5
billion in France alone, according to the fifth edition of
the European Retail Theft Barometer published in September
2005. 

    Checkpoint Systems will supply 7,800 third-generation
digital RF antennas and 8,300 new-generation CP IX
deactivators and scanners for checkout counters.  To
optimize shrink management, the company will also deploy
179 CheckPro(TM) Manager software suites and the
accompanying remote-maintenance application.  The
implementation programme should be completed by the end of
2007. 

    With this strategy, Carrefour will have one programme
and one technology across the group to more efficiently
fight company-wide losses.  Close Global cooperation with
Carrefour's offices in Hong-Kong and China, should help
speed deployment of the source tagging programme worldwide.
 The CheckPro(TM) Manager web-enabled shrink management
information system and remote-maintenance will ensure the
highest possible performance across Carrefour.

    The "most ambitious" source tagging programme
in the world 
Along with equipping its stores, Carrefour is launching the
most ambitious source tagging programme in the world with RF
EAS (electronic article surveillance) labels integrated into
products at the point of manufacturing.  The programme has
the highest priority and will cover theft-sensitive
articles including apparel, multimedia, alcoholic
beverages, etc- from both private labels and global brands.

 
    Source tagging helps retailers respond to consumers'
increasingly high expectations for product presentation,
speed to shelf and shelf availability. 

    "We needed to shift to RF technology to develop
source tagging, facilitate the consumer's shopping
experience and improve speed to shelf," said
Jean-Claude Coutant, manager of the source tagging project
for Carrefour Hyper France's non-food supply chain. 
"Now we've got a skilled and committed partner to help
us develop our programme."

    Bernard Theobald of the Perifem retailers' technical
association, noted: "All retailers would like to see
greater use of source tagging.  Perifem will set up working
groups on this topic to support source tagging, which will
expand in France and the rest of Europe, notably with the
momentum generated by Carrefour." 

    "This decision from Carrefour Group is
strategically important for other leading retailers,"
declared Per Levin, President of Checkpoint Systems Europe.
 "Suppliers of consumer goods and retailers now have
the opportunity to develop winning strategies together, to
sell more and lose less."

    About Checkpoint Systems, Inc.

    Checkpoint Systems Inc. is the global leader in product
identification and shrink management solutions for the
retail industry and its supply chain.  Checkpoint's
services are aiming at increasing sales and protect the
profit of its customers.  Listed on the NYSE, Checkpoint
operates in every geographic market and employs more than
4,000 personnel worldwide.  It specializes in source
protection of consumer goods, RF EAS (Electronic Article
Surveillance), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and
merchandising solutions.  A strategic platform for the
source tagging service (CheckNet) is the global network for
just in time delivery of critical information and protection
applied on products at the point of manufacturing.  For more
information, please visit http://www.checkpointsystems.com
or http://www.checkpointeurope.com .

    About Carrefour

    Carrefour is Europe's leading retailer and ranks second
worldwide, with more than 11,000 hypermarkets, supermarkets,
hard discount and convenience stores in 30 countries and
430,000 employees.  Corporate website:
http://www.carrefour.com

    About Perifem

    Perifem has more than 160 corporate members, including
all of the major retailers, numerous specialized banners
and networks, shopping center developers and managers, and
their manufacturing partners and service providers involved
in store base operation and innovation. 
http://www.perifem.com

    For more information, please contact:

     Natalie Chan
     Checkpoint Systems, Inc. 				
     Tel:   [phone]		
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Checkpoint Systems