Retail theft isn't actually increasing much, major industry study finds
Publishing timestamp: 2023-09-26 10:00:01
Summary
The National Retail Federation (NRF) conducted a survey on retail theft and found that the effect of theft on retailers' bottom lines is largely consistent with previous years. The total retail shrink grew to over $112 billion in 2022, up from $93.9 billion the previous year. External theft, including organized retail crime, was reported as the largest source of shrink at 36.15%, followed by internal theft at 28.85%. Process and control failures and errors accounted for 27.29% of shrink. The average annual shrink as a percentage of sales increased to 1.57% in 2022, up from 1.44% in 2021. The survey also highlighted concerns over the increased violence associated with retail theft. Retailers identified Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, New York, and Seattle as the most affected areas by retail crime. Many retailers have taken measures such as reducing store hours, changing product selection, and closing specific locations due to crime. The NRF report also noted that the actual dollar loss associated with shrink is likely heavily underreported due to the exclusion of e-commerce goods and supply chain losses in the calculation.
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Keywords: business news, target corp, breaking news: business, foot locker inc, retail industry,