How a Global Beauty Retailer Reduced Tester Theft Without Sacrificing the Customer Experience
Fragrance Retail Depends on Product Interaction
Fragrance is one of the most interactive categories in retail. Customers want to smell, compare, and discover products before making a purchase, making tester availability a critical part of the shopping experience.
For one leading beauty retailer, maintaining that experience across hundreds of stores was becoming increasingly difficult. Rising tester theft was creating operational challenges for store teams, disrupting merchandising standards, and leaving empty spaces where customer engagement should have been.
The Challenge: Tester Theft Was Undermining the Fragrance Experience
In late 2023, the retailer approached Sennco (now part of InVue) seeking a solution. The challenge wasn’t simply preventing tester theft—it was protecting testers while preserving the accessibility, presentation, and flexibility required in modern fragrance retail.
The retailer needed a solution that could:
- Secure fragrance testers without disrupting the shopping experience
- Allow store teams to quickly replace empty testers
- Support frequent planogram and merchandising changes
- Work across multiple fixture types
- Scale across hundreds of locations
In short, they needed a universal tester security program that could adapt to the realities of a fast-moving beauty environment while maintaining a consistent experience for both associates and shoppers.
The Approach: Build Around the Retail Experience
After successfully testing Sennco’s existing tester security solution in a small group of stores, the retailer requested a customized approach tailored to its unique merchandising environment.
Rather than starting from scratch, Sennco adapted and expanded fragrance tester security technology that had already been proven in retail environments for more than a decade.
 | StageAn elevated fragrance tester platform designed for permanent and promotional displays. Benefits:
Helps secure testers without disrupting the shopping experience |
Working closely with the retailer, Sennco designed, prototyped, and received approval for a custom fragrance tester program in less than two months.
The solution incorporated more than 80 custom components designed to secure fragrance testers across 12 different fixture types while maintaining the flexibility required for ongoing merchandising updates, tester replacement, and seasonal resets.
Rather than forcing the retailer to adapt to the solution, the solution was built around the retailer’s operational and merchandising requirements.
The Rollout: From Pilot to Chainwide Deployment
The initial pilot began in a handful of stores.
Within months, the results led to approval of a chainwide rollout securing fragrance testers across approximately 700 stores throughout the United States and Canada.
Following the success of that deployment, the program expanded again to nearly 1,200 additional shop-in-shop beauty locations.
To support the aggressive timeline, Sennco leveraged both domestic and overseas manufacturing capabilities to produce, kit, and deliver solutions to approximately 685 stores within four months of receiving the order.
What began as a pilot in a handful of locations quickly became one of the largest fragrance tester protection programs in North America.
The Solution: Protecting Testers While Preserving Accessibility
Unlike traditional approaches that create barriers between customers and products, the program was designed around tester availability.
The solution enabled the retailer to:
- Secure fragrance testers against theft
- Maintain premium product presentation
- Quickly replace empty testers at store level
- Support frequent planogram and merchandising changes
- Adapt across multiple fixture types
- Keep products available for customer interaction
The result was a tester security program designed not just to reduce shrink, but to preserve the experience that drives fragrance sales.
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Installation & Partner Experience
From installation onward, the experience was smooth and straightforward. The system was easy for staff to adopt, and support from the project team played a key role in ensuring a successful rollou
 | “The program effectively became self-funding. The reduction in tester loss and the improvement in tester availability created value that quickly offset the investment.”” — VP of Asset Protection, Leading Beauty Retailer |
The Impact: A New Standard for Fragrance Retail
Stores reported reductions in tester theft and improvements in tester availability shortly after installation, helping maintain the customer interaction that drives fragrance sales.
The success of the program created momentum far beyond the initial rollout.
What began as a fragrance tester initiative evolved into one of the largest tester protection programs in North America, supporting approximately 1.4 million fragrance testers on any given day.
The success also demonstrated that tester protection could be applied well beyond fragrance.
As retailers continued looking for ways to balance accessibility and protection, the same approach began expanding into additional product categories.
Today, similar solutions are being used to secure:
- Skincare testers
- Haircare testers
- Candle testers
- Other interactive product displays where customer engagement is essential
By preserving accessibility while reducing theft, retailers gained a framework that could be applied across multiple categories—not just fragrance.
Looking Ahead
The success of the program created opportunities for additional deployments across international markets, demonstrating how a single tester security strategy could be adapted across different store formats and retail environments.
While fragrance testers were the initial focus, many retailers face additional security challenges throughout the customer purchase journey.
Once a customer selects a fragrance, associates often retrieve boxed inventory from drawers located directly beneath the display or from nearby glass cabinets containing reserve stock. These areas can present their own operational and shrink challenges.
Through InVue’s Smart Access ecosystem, retailers can extend the same principles of accessibility, accountability, and operational efficiency beyond testers.
Drawer & Cabinet Security Solutions
- Self-Latching Drawer & Door Lock
Secures fragrance drawers and cabinets while providing fast associate access and automatic re-locking. - Self-Latching Showcase Lock
Protects hinged glass showcases containing premium fragrances and beauty products. - Self-Latching Slider Lock
Secures sliding glass displays while automatically re-locking after access. - Cam Lock
Versatile lock solution for drawers, doors, and cabinets storing boxed fragrance inventory. - Plunger Lock
Secures bypass doors and glass display cases commonly found in beauty environments.
Smart Access Solutions
- LIVE Cam Lock
OneKEY and mKEY enabled access control for wood, glass, metal or acrylic swing-out doors. - LIVE Slider Lock
Smart access solution for sliding glass doors with auditability and simplified key management. - LIVE Plunger Lock
Connected lock for metal fram glass doors that combines security with fast associate access.
Backroom & Reserve Inventory Security
- Padlock
Weather-resistant and durable access control for stockrooms, storage cages, and reserve inventory areas.
If you’d like to learn more about the retail security solutions Jewlery store ready, contact InVue today.
