Light-fingered customers and professional thieves are costing Australian and New Zealand retail businesses in excess of $3 billion in revenue according to a new dedicated retail crime survey.

According to the survey results, in-store theft by customers has increased dramatically to account for over 50 per cent of the revenue lost from stores.

The Australia and New Zealand Retail Crime Survey canvassed retailers representing over 9,000 stores with an annual turnover of approximately AUD$95 billion in the last financial year. The sample represents almost a quarter of the retail industry in Australia and New Zealand.

The majority of losses have been attributed to customer theft (57 per cent). This figure has jumped 16 per cent in less than two years.

The retailer most likely to be targeted by shoplifters: telecommunication stores. These stores also have the highest average value of theft (more than $1000 per incident). While baby formula, meat and beauty products rank highly amongst the products stolen at supermarkets.

Theft of products under $20 in value had also increased in frequency. Supermarkets report self-service checkouts continue to be vulnerable.

However, it’s not just average shoppers, pinching products. The rise in organised criminals hitting store is also increasing. The survey results suggest there is a large resale market for goods. Stolen food and champagne is reportedly being sold to restaurants, and baby formula is being sold to China.

67 per cent of retailers reported that it was difficult to combat shoplifters with their current resources because of the diverse and sophisticated ways that criminals are now targeting retailers.

Shoplifting not a victimless crime

Commenting on the study, lead researcher and Reader in Criminology at City, University of London Dr Emmeline Taylor suggested thieves believe it is easy to get away with petty theft.

“Reward greatly outweighs the risk. There are multiple factors that could be contributing to this, including the introduction of the self-service checkout, and changes in criminal behaviour.

“Thieves are becoming more brazen. We have seen this in the recent “steaming” technique used by gangs to overpower mobile phone shops in broad daylight, often intimidating staff and pushing customers out of the way to reach the stock,” Dr Taylor added.

Many people think that retail crime is a victimless crime, believing the large retailers build expected losses into their profit margin. Taylor suggests this couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We calculate that AUD $3.37 billion is enough to employ 85,000 supermarket checkout staff for a year.”

Vice President of Checkpoint Australia, Mark Gentle said: “From this study, it’s evident that thieves have upped their game and retailers need to adapt to stay ahead. Loss prevention technologies are still the best deterrents for opportunistic shoplifters and when combined with good customer service, will often significantly reduce theft in stores. ”

“It has also become clear that retailers have lost confidence in law enforcement’s response to retail crime and this has allowed shoplifters to become bolder. These findings should encourage retailers to invest in further theft prevention measures. There has been a major focus on cybercrime and cybersecurity in retail. Yet this push towards protecting digital assets has apparently left a gaping hole for shoplifters to take advantage of gaps in retailer’s security in stores.”