In a recent survey by the US National Retail Federation’s (NRF) national retail security – showed that in 2021 – US brands and retailers face an increase in retail theft costs, with US brands and retail shrinkage making up $94.5 billion in losses in 2021. Witnessing an increase from $90.8 billion in 2020.
The NRF survey showed that the top five US cities hit by planned retail crime over 2021 were Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, New York City, Houston and Miami.
Clothing, health and beauty, electronics/appliances, accessories, footwear, home furnishings, home goods and home improvement items were the top categories targeted by organized retail crime groups, the survey found.
US brands and retailers face security-associated encounters on many fronts. While maximum retailers stated an increase in in-store, e-commerce and Omni-channel scam.
The majority of respondents also reported that guest-on-associate violence, external theft, organised retail crime (ORC) and cyber crime have become higher priorities for their organisations.
The NRF survey opined that the grave situation rose due to challenges with labor scarcities, employee retention and hiring, as well as issues related to masking and maintaining COVID precautions, have contributed to the risks of violence and hostility.
The current climate of active assailants and gun violence add to retailers’ concerns about being able to keep employees and customers safe.
Nearly half (44.5%) of retail defendants said they will finance in loss deterrence. About 60% said they are rising their technology budget, and 52.4% of defendants said they are assigning more funds to their capital and equipment budgets, according to the NRF report.
US retailers are devoting considerable resources to prevent the victimization of their employees, guests and organizations. They are boosting their budgets for loss prevention and technology, and 52.4 percent are increasing budgets specifically for capital and equipment.
Retailers are applying a diversified array of technological solutions, from artificial intelligence-based video analytics at point of sale/self-checkout to self-service locking cases, autonomous security robots and license plate recognition.
