Some of my super smart colleagues solved real time inventory with big data within a small enough margin of error that Walmart scrapped the shelf scanning robots that were being deployed.

EAS is a purely psychological deterrent, for liability reasons stores can't really do much when it goes off. As more and more shrink is the result of ORC, RFID will have a place but money is better spent on alternative technologies like facial recognition and ALPR.

EAS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_article_surveillanc...