Inventory Shrink Cost The U.S. Retail Industry $46.8 Billion

It is a wild frontier for retailers today. Everything from Amazon to mobile phones is having an impact on their sales and bottom line profits. Based on a 2018 survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF), shrink, or loss of inventory related to theft, shoplifting, error, or fraud, is reducing the bottom line by $46.8 billion across the industry. The full NRF report entitled the 2018 National Retail Security Survey found that whether the loss is perpetrated by a dishonest employee or organized retail criminals, shrink costs retailers about 1.33 percent of sales, on average. Facial recognition technology provider, FaceFirst, studies a variety of loss-related challenges for business. In a recent roundup post, the company summarized a variety of retail loss prevention statistics (in addition to organized crime stats, too). Read more at Forbes.