Billions of dollars in retail theft anticipated during holiday shopping season
Although the holiday shopping season got off to an extremely strong start with Black Friday and continuing over the following days, American retailers are concerned about the large amounts of money they could lose due to retail theft, either from employees, customers or inventory errors. For this year's holiday season, research has revealed that companies are expecting nearly $9 billion in losses because of merchandise being stolen. While it's not possible to prevent every situation of theft from occurring, there are strategies that retailers can follow to reduce these instances.
Employee, customer theft combine for big losses
According to a recent study by the Centre for Retail Research, retailers throughout the United States are anticipating large losses during the holiday shopping frenzy. From expected employee theft alone, merchants could see upwards of $4 billion of revenue losses. When it comes to customers stealing merchandise through shoplifting, approximately $3.7 billion could be lost. Additionally, supply chain fraud is another element that results in decreases in retail revenue. For this year's holidays, more than $442 million will be taken away from businesses due to this aspect, the research found. In total, these instances of illegal activity will result in a loss of approximately $8.8 billion for American companies throughout the holiday season.
The Centre for Retail Research also revealed what some of the most stolen items are during the holiday frenzy. Ranking high on the list are women's clothing and accessories, health and beauty products, toys, electronics, jewelry and food.
Retailers saw large theft losses last year
American retailers are constantly trying to crack down on theft year round, and they will certainly attempt to reduce the amount stolen this year when compared to last year's totals. According to a study by the National Retail Federation, retail shrinkage – inventory loss due to theft and errors – in 2011 fell to 1.41 percent, from the previous year's 1.49 percent. Businesses may want to keep this trend going, by being vigilant about combating theft and reducing mistakes.
"Retail theft continues to plague the industry, with billions of dollars of merchandise walking out of the store every day without ever being paid for," said NRF vice president of loss prevention Rich Mellor. "Fighting these self-serving and unethical criminals has been a tedious battle, but we remain resolute in our efforts and our partnerships with law enforcement to combat this growing problem."
