Shoplifting and fraud could cost UK retailers £1bn over Christmas

According to a new report by the Centre for Retail Research and Checkpoint Systems, UK retailers are expected to lose £1bn over Christmas as a result of shoplifting, dishonest employees and vendor or distribution losses. It reveals that the losses incurred by the retail industry over this period could add an extra £38.09 to each UK family’s shopping bill.

The report found that UK retailers could lose £522m through shoplifting, £431m through employee theft, and £47m through vendor and distribution losses. In total, the losses could represent a 3.4% increase over the same period last year.

Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research and author of the report, said: “The Christmas season is an especially attractive time for criminals. Thieves take advantage of busy stores to steal high-value, high-demand goods. As a result, retailers face a big threat from professional and semi-professional thieves, many of whom steal goods with the intention of re-selling them.

Organised retail crime is a major concern for retailers – especially since the average amount stolen per incident is much higher than ‘normal’ thefts.”

More on this story from Talking Retail, here

Report can be found here

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