Pilferage can be reduced by monitoring the content of shelves and alerting store
personnel for unusual purchases of certain items. Gillette Inc. and Tesco in the
UK have recently announced the trial implementation of an in-store theft
detection system, focusing on razor blades [19]. The system is based on a “smart
shelf detecting how many blades were taken and alerting in-store personnel to
unusual patterns.” In January 2003, Gillette ordered 500 million tags from Alien
technology Inc.