One does not prevent theft by reducing preferences.
You can get the brand names, but you have to ask for them since they are being locked up, according to one article I read. I also read that another store is pricing everything at just under $1000 to get around the “allowed to steal” policy. They have coupons for the regular price behind the counter.
The brand names are much higher in price. The thieves steal the brand names and sell them cheaper.
I retired from Duracell/P&G. Duracell had its own branded trucks for the batteries, but they were hijacked so often that they had to start using other not-branded trucks to haul products.
Here is something else I know from personal experience. A lot of the store brands are made by the name brand companies with the store label on them to make them cheaper. You pay for the name on the outside on some brand name items. I don’t know if the quality is different or not.