The Slow Rise of Shrinkage

Increased shoplifting from organized crime rings contributed to the slight uptick.

June 17, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Retail shrinkage jumped to 1.58 percent of retail sales last y ear, up slightly from 1.44 percent in 2009, Progressive Grocer reports. The preliminary results are from the most recent National Retail Security Survey done in conjunction with the University of Florida.

The survey found that retailers registered $37.1 billion in total retail losses in 2010, compared with $33.5 billion the year before. Contributing to the increase is more organized crime rings targeting retail stores. The recent National Retail Federation (NRF) Organized Retail Crime survey discovered that nearly every retailer (95 percent) has experienced organized retail crime within the past year.

"Increased shoplifting and shrink rates mirror what retailers are seeing with professional and organized crime rings," said Joe LaRocca, senior asset protection advisor for the association. "Retailers are continuing to put resources in place to fight these self-serving and unethical criminals who walk out with billions of dollars in unpaid merchandise every year."

The findings detail that the most of retail loss (43.7 percent) in 2010 could be traced to employee theft, which cost retailers $16.2 billion. Shoplifting accounted for 32.6 percent of retail shrinkage to the tune of $12.1 billion. Other shrinkage were the result of administrative error (12.9 percent and $4.8 billion) and vendor fraud (5.4 percent and $2 billion).

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