Theft is a serious problem for retailers and the financial losses are material. There was a time when the biggest source of retail shrink was internal — that’s not the case anymore,” he wrote.
National Retail Federation retail theft numbers
According to NRF’s “The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024” report, retailers saw a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 vs. 2019, and a 90% increase in dollar losses over that same period.
In 2023, surveyed retailers reported an average of 177 shoplifting incidents per day (though in some sectors the number exceeded 1,000 daily incidents)
Violence and aggression in shoplifting have risen:
73% of retailers said shoplifters were more aggressive than the prior year
91% said shoplifters show more violence compared to 2019
Almost 47% of retailers reported seeing more incidents involving groups of more than three individuals stealing multiple items (possible indicator of organized retail crime)
Retailers say organized retail crime (ORC) is increasingly part of the problem:
ORC groups coordinate theft across stores and resale channels
NRF notes that external theft (which includes ORC) accounts for about 36% of annual retail “shrinkage” losses
