DIY tops shrinkage table worldwide

Shrinkage cost retailers worldwide € 87.506 bn in 2009/2010. This is one of the conclusions reached by the fourth Global Retail Theft Barometer, an annual survey undertaken by the Centre for Retail Research (UK) in Nottingham and sponsored by Checkpoint Systems, Heppenheim-based loss prevention specialists. The overall rate of shrinkage as a percentage of retail sales comes to 1.36 per cent (2009: 1.44 per cent). India has the highest country-specific rate of shrinkage (2.72 per cent) and Taiwan the lowest (0.87 per cent). Shrinkage in Europe adds up to 1.29 per cent of retail sales. The highest rate was recorded in Russia (1.61 per cent), the three lowest in Austria (0.97 per cent), Switzerland (1.00 per cent) and Germany (1.12 per cent). When the first European survey was carried out in 2000 the rate of shrinkage in Europe amounted to 1.4 per cent. The highest figure of 1.45 per cent was recorded in 2002 and the lowest in 2006 at 1.23 per cent. Topping the list of shoplifting losses in Europe in 2009/2010 is the category of clothing/accessories (1.79 per cent), followed by expensive foodstuffs (1.77 per cent) and automobile accessories/hardware/DIY products (1.70 per cent). Seen globally, however, the category of automobile accessories/hardware/DIY products is top of the list at 1.81 per cent, followed by clothing/accessories at 1.72 per cent and cosmetics/toiletries/pharmaceuticals at 1.70 per cent. Slightly fewer than 3.4 mio shoplifters were apprehended by European retailers, according to the Theft Barometer. Only 4 per cent of these were dishonest employees but, at € 1 760, the average value of the merchandise they stole was approx. 15 times greater than that taken by the total of around 3.25 mio shoplifters apprehended (€ 114).