Datalogic expands long-standing partnership with Digimarc

Datalogic S.p.A., a publicly listed Italian company founded in Bologna and a global leader in automatic data capture and industrial automation technologies, today announced the expansion of its long-standing partnership with Digimarc (NASDAQ: DMRC) through the implementation of Digimarc’s new end-to-end digital security layer for gift card protection across the Datalogic retail scanner portfolio, beginning in early 2026. Together, Datalogic and Digimarc are supporting retailers’ efforts to improve the checkout experience while reducing gift card fraud and helping brands protect consumer trust at the point of sale. The partnership further reinforces Datalogic’s position as a leading provider of loss prevention solutions at checkout, helping retailers to combat gift card fraud and reduce shrink at the point of sale without disrupting existing workflows.

Industry data shows that retailers are projected to lose over $132 billion to shrink in 2025, up 18% compared to 2022*, while shoplifting has increased by 50% following the adoption of self-checkout terminals*. In parallel, gift card fraud continues to erode consumer confidence, with 23% of consumers in the U.S. reporting having given or received gift cards with no funds available*, underscoring the scale of gift card-related fraud and its impact on consumer trust.

Unlike traditional, cumbersome gift card security layers focused on packaging, Digimarc’s innovative technology embeds covert, tamper-evident digital watermarks directly into gift card designs, enabling automated, secure, and reliable detection of compromised cards during scanning at checkout. Authentic cards scan and activate normally at the point of sale, while tampered cards fail activation, stopping fraud before it impacts customers or brand trust. This approach allows gift cards to be authenticated at the point of sale with no disruption to existing checkout processes.

“We’re leveraging nearly 30 years of experience helping the world’s central banks protect global currencies to help today’s retailers and brands secure their gift cards,” explained Ken Sickles, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Digimarc. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Datalogic to enable their scanners to instantly detect tampered cards as part of Digimarc’s end-to-end digital security solution. Together, we’re driving greater automation in tamper detection, which prevents the sale of fraudulent gift cards to consumers—all while accelerating scanning speeds for faster checkouts and better customer experiences. This is a win-win for consumers, retailers, and brands.”

Datalogic plans to configure its retail scanners to work with Digimarc’s end-to-end digital security layer for gift cards, ensuring tampered cards won’t activate for retailers at the point of sale. Digimarc’s solution is over three times more secure than “card-only” security features and removes the need for cashiers to manually inspect or otherwise prepare cards prior to scanning.

“At Datalogic, our commitment is to provide best-in-class solutions that help retailers address one of their most pressing challenges: loss prevention at checkout,” said Rosario Casillo, Executive Vice President Product and Solutions at Datalogic. “By integrating Digimarc’s newest software across our retail scanners in early 2026, we are delivering an additional layer of security without compromising speed or customer experience. I am pleased that our renewed partnership with Digimarc unites us in the mission to protect retailers and customers against fraud.”

For more information, visit www.datalogic.com.

* Statistics based on Digimarc data and third-party retail industry sources (CapitalOneShopping.com).