Survey: Shoplifters, dishonest employees continue to plague retail industry

JUNE 22, 2016 | BY DAN BERTHIAUME

With all the attention placed on cybercrime, it is easy to overlook the threat posed by old fashioned shoplifters and dishonest employees.

 

But that threat remains very real. According to the 28th annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International, more than 1.2 million shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended by 25 large retailers in 2015. This figure includes 1.17 million shoplifters, up 2% from 2015, as well as 76,000 dishonest employees, up 1% from the prior year.

  

Retailers, with a total of more than 21,000 stores and $700 billion in 2015 retail sales, recovered more than $200 million, a 1.2% year-over-year increase, according to the survey. This includes more than $150 million recovered from apprehended shoplifters, a 3.2% increase. An additional $142 million was recovered from non-apprehended shoplifters.

 

In addition, more than $55 million was recovered from employee apprehensions in 2015, which in one of the study’s few positive findings, was down 4% from 2014.

 

Other notable findings include:

 

· One out of every 38 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer in 2015. (Based on a sample of almost 3 million employees.)

 

· Sixty percent of survey participants reported an increase in shrink in 2015, with just 24% reporting a decrease in shrink, and 16% reported shrink stayed about the same.

 

“Retail theft, by both shoplifters and employees, continues to plague the retail industry,” said Mark R. Doyle, president of Jack L. Hayes International. "It should be noted that the apprehension of shoplifters and dishonest employees has increased in nine of the last 10 years. It should be noted that the apprehension of shoplifters and dishonest employees has increased in 9 of the last 10 years. Retail theft causes consumers to pay higher prices for goods, and is having a detrimental effect on retailers' bottom-line profits."