Its anti-theft system will be used in 375 stores in the country

 

By MICHELLE QUAH

 

CATALIST-LISTED Equation Corp has, through its local subsidiary Disa DigitalSafety Pte Ltd and German subsidiary Disa DigitalSafety GmbH, signed a deal with two units of leading European consumer electronics group Media-Saturn.

 

Under the deal, the group will supply Germany's Media Markt Management and Saturn Management with its DiSa anti- theft system, which the retailers will use throughout their 375 stores in the country.

Media-Saturn - which is part of Germany's Metro group - has over 830 Media Markt and Saturn stores in 16 countries which generated net sales of 19.7 billion euros (S$35.1 billion) in 2009. The group retails consumer electronic products from major suppliers such as Samsung, Apple, Sony and Philips.

The strength of the DiSa anti-theft system - invented and launched by the Equation group last year - is that it allows small electronic devices to be encrypted with a security code. It is therefore capable of protecting any electronic product - from cameras to USB thumb- drives to mobile phones.

DiSa was awarded two certificates for innovation at Plus X Award Technology 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

In Media-Saturn's case, its consumer electronic products will be protected with DiSa before being placed on store shelves.

Suppliers to Media-Saturn will have their products embedded with DiSa Codes at the manufacturing stage.

Media-Saturn will install a one-time DiSa Activator to unlock all DiSa-protected products sold. The products will not work if they are not unlocked.

This two-pronged approach is expected to reduce pilferage significantly.

Worldwide shrinkage - stock loss from crime or waste, expressed as a percentage of retail sales - amounted to US$115 billion, or almost 1.5 per cent of retail sales, according to the 2009 Global Retail Theft Barometer.

Europe's share of the shrinkage was about US$44 billion while the US's share was about US$46 billion.

Equation Corp chief executive Eddie Chng said: 'DiSa is revolutionising the security landscape in the electronics retail industry. If we can help Media-Saturn protect 30 per cent of its high-value items, it will boost our group's bottom line. DiSa income is recurring, not cyclical, although it's in the electronics industry.'

Equation and its subsidiaries will earn through each DiSa Code embedded into a product, as each code is charged a licence fee.

The group intends to take its product to the rest of Europe, the UK and the US. It believes DiSa can help consumer electronics retailers fight pilferage and boost profits.