Loss prevention and retail industry professionals have a responsibility to stay informed about the latest retail theft statistics. This article provides a snapshot of what retailers currently face when it comes to loss and theft.
Inventory Shrink
Inventory shrinkage refers to the difference between the merchandise a retailer shows in its records and the actual physical count of merchandise on hand. This difference can be attributed to operational errors, internal loss, and/or external loss. Shrink is an inevitability in the retail environment, but loss caused by retail theft is something LP and AP professionals work hard to prevent.
The 2015 National Retail Security Survey (NRSS), which was released from the National Retail Federation in the middle of last year, reports that retailers say inventory shrink accounted for 1.38 percent of sales, or $44 billion, in 2014. The NRSS is the result of a collaborative effort with the University of Florida and has been overseen by Dr. Richard Hollinger for nearly 25 years,
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Shoplifters and Organized Retail Crime
Shoplifting and organized retail crime are major contributors to the external loss component of inventory shrink. The NRSS indicates that shoplifting accounted for 38 percent of the reported shrink in 2015—by far the largest contributing factor to retail loss in the survey.
Employee Theft
Employee theft, also known as internal theft, occurs when employees steal from the organization where they are employed. Retailers that participated in the 2015 NRSS say that employee/internal theft amounted to 34.5 percent of inventory shrink in 2014.
Other Retail Theft Statistics
According to the Jack L. Hayes International 27th Annual Retail Theft Survey, more than 1.2 million shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2014 by 25 major retailers. These shoplifter apprehensions showed an increase of 7.4 percent over 2013, while dishonest employee apprehensions increased more than 1.7 percent over 2013. More than $225 million was recovered from the thieves – up nearly 10.4 percent from 2013.
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