What's Inside

Retail shrink through theft continues to be a persistent and intensifying headwind for retailers globally. Retailers have increasingly been impacted by a wave of shoplifting and organized crime that has put a dent in their margins and has become a growing focus for the sector.

In this first report in our new monthly series on retail shrink and organized retail crime (ORC), we discuss the size of the inventory shrink challenge in the US and present developments in theft and related incidents in the US and the UK from the past few months. We also provide commentary on the topic from US retailers’ recent earnings calls.

This report covers the INFORM Consumers Act, Target’s store closures, Walmart’s self-checkout closures and more.

Data in this research report include:

• US retail shrink losses (2017–2022) and US retail shrink by source (2022), based on recently published data from the NRF (National Retail Federation)
• Coresight Research survey findings—US consumers’ opinions of retail in the current shoplifting-prevalent environment

Companies mentioned in this report include: Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, The Giant Food, H&M, Nordstrom, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart

Other relevant research:

• RetailTech: Leading-Edge Loss Prevention—Tackling Theft and Fraud Through RFID, Video Surveillance and More, a free report, sponsored by Sensormatic
• Retail Challenges Drive Edge Technology Investment, a free report, sponsored by VMware
• Organized Retail Crime: A Growing Threat for All Retailers
• Retail-Tech Landscape: Loss Prevention
• Is the Future of Security Locked in Technology?: Insights Presented at NRF Protect 2023
• Retail Shrink and Loss-Prevention Methods—Presentation
• Watch our Insights Video for more insights from our analysts on loss prevention.