Yes – Research for ElectronicSecurityServices.com.au shows that 4 OUT OF 10 CUSTOMERS STEAL.. and THATS JUST THE BEGINNING!, it gets worst for business owners and managers.
Retail crime includes shoplifting, employee theft, fraud, robbery and violence to staff. Costs include loss of profitability, low staff morale, loss of work due to physical and psychological damage, and even loss of life.
Just HOW serious is the problem?
Stock Shrinkage
In 1987, Coles-Myer, Australia’s biggest retail chain, estimated that about 1 per cent of its turnover—$120 million—was lost to theft, that is, more than half its $219 million after-tax profit.
The Victorian Retail Association’s guesstimate is that theft costs its members $70 million a year, while the police say shop thefts valued at $8 million were reported in 1987-88.
In the 1988-89 financial year Grace Bros security officers in 40 New South Wales stores apprehended 3,500 people, including staff. Thefts cost the store about $ 15 million per year.
In 1987 the Coles-Myer Group—which includes Grace Bros, Coles New World, Fosseys, KMart and Target stores— announced that 45,000 people had been caught stealing. Of these, 1,400 were staff.
According to the Retail Traders’ Association of New South Wales, the major department stores lose .875 per cent to 1.125 per cent per year in stock shrinkage, and boutiques—stores with an owner and up to two employees—lose up to 7 per cent. That extrapolates to $400 million a year in New South Wales alone, and $1 billion for the whole country.
Stock shrinkage is the difference between the book value of a retailer’s stock at selling price and the actual value of stock on hand—is caused by unaccounted for stock through bad invoicing, receiving, despatch and bad recording; theft by staff; and customer theft.
How much does each of these causes contribute to shrinkage? Estimates for Australian department stores range from 30 to 60 per cent for customer theft, 30 to 50 per cent for staff theft and 10 to 20 per cent for poor paperwork (Challinger 1989). The National Retail Merchants Association in the United States rates these causes at a third each, while a large United States department store chain sees poor paperwork as the largest cause at 50 per cent, staff theft next with 35 per cent, and customers trailing at 15 per
cent
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