Home Depot Inc. is deploying Bluetooth technology in a quest to stop crime in its stores and deter thieves who grab items and take goods to pawn shops or put them online for sale.

It is launching the technology at specific stores, according to a Market Watch report. The system works by activating a product at the point of sale so items that don’t go through the store POS won’t work once outside the store. The retailer is considering using it on other items such as smart home products.

“The value of any product is its ability to work,” Christina Cornell, a spokesperson for Home Depot, told Market Watch. “If we take that away, there’s no reason to steal it.”

In other news, Home Depot and Google are expanding a multi-year cloud partnership to boost the interconnected shopping experience by blending physical and digital shopping environments.

The collaboration involves Google Cloud’s infrastructure expertise, AI, machine learning and data analytics, according to a press release.

“To provide our customers with the flexibility to shop whenever and however they want, we’ve been intensely focused on building an innovative foundation for our systems and applications,” Matt Carey, Home Depot CIO, said in the release. “We’ve built on Google Cloud since 2015, giving us the scalability and flexibility we need to meet growing demand and quickly introduce more personalized experiences for customers.”

Source: Retail Customer Experience