Shoplifting, shrinkage and a $95bn problem for US retailers

The Lex Newsletter: shoplifting, shrinkage and a $95bn problem for US retailers | Financial Times

Theft is not the only cause of inventory losses but can be a handy scapegoat for poor operational decisions

✒ “So-called shrinkage, an industry term that measures inventory losses related to such factors as theft, fraud or damage, represented about 1.4 per cent of US retail revenue, or roughly $94.5bn, in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), an industry trade group.

NRF’s survey showed that in 2021 about 37 per cent of shrinkage was from external theft, 28.5 per cent from employee/internal theft and 25.7 per cent from process/control failures.”