Retail theft costs UK stores £4.9bn

Retail crime and administrative errors cost UK retailers £4.9bn in the year to June 2011, according to the latest report from the Global Retail Theft Barometer.

Increases were seen in shoplifting and employee theft, while organised retail crime, defined as large-scale fraud and theft for resale, was perceived as a significant contributor to losses for the first time. The report, published by the Centre for Retail Research in Nottingham and funded by Checkpoint Systems, revealed that the average amount stolen by shoplifters was £81.90, while dishonest employees took an average of £1,341.

Losses increased despite the fact that retailers spent £1bn on security measures in 2011, up from £977m last year. UK security spending as a percentage of retail sales was 0.23%.

While commentators have often blamed the recession for any increase in crime, the barometer revealed that only 29% of UK security managers thought the recession was a main cause of increased crime.

Key factors seem to be a change in attitudes about theft by some sectors of society, a realisation that the police can only give a low priority to crimes against retailers and the fact that not much happens to most people caught stealing from shops, said the report.