Losses from shrinkage fell

For the first time in three years, Europe’s retailers provided some better news about security published in the 3rdEuropean Retail Theft Barometer: losses suffered by the sector from shrinkage and crime in 2002/2003 fell from 1.45 per cent to 1.37 per cent of turnover, a reduction of 5.5 per cent compared with the previous year. Stockloss was equivalent to € 27.258 bn. Different kinds of retail business normally have different shrinkage problems. In the period of the report most kinds of business were able to reduce their average shrinkage rate, with the category hardware/DIY/furniture achieving an average reduction of more than ten per cent.
You can find a report on the study at DIYglobal plus under the Market data heading (v. Further articles on this topic).