Napoleon Bonaparte called Britain a nation of shopkeepers. India has earned a more dubious distinction — of being a nation of shoplifters.
Napoleon Bonaparte called Britain a nation of shopkeepers. India has earned a more dubious distinction — of being a nation of shoplifters. In the 12 months to June this year, consumers, along with store employees, shoplifted goods worth a staggering Rs3,470 crore, according to the fifth annual edition of the Global Retail Theft Barometer conducted by Checkpoint Systems.
That makes India the nation with highest retail ‘shrinkage’ in the world for the fifth consecutive year. Shrinkage refers to inventory loss from customer, employee or supplier theft as well as administrative errors.
Customers were the biggest thieves, accounting for nearly half (47.6%) of the shrinkage, while employee flicked a quarter of the goods. What was stolen the most? Grocery, cosmetics and perishable goods.
Anurag Rajpal, vice president - apparel, Spencer’s Retail Ltd, said shrinkage in branded apparel industry is between 1-3%. “We try to contain it to 1% in apparel. We give incentives to the staff if we are able to maintain it to 1% or below,” he said.
Other retailers said, with better security systems, things will improve.
“Retailers around the world are going to continue facing security and inventory pressures because of all the strains on the global economy, such as rising commodity costs, inflation and unemployment. By recording the world’s highest shrink rate again and again, India needs to enhance its loss prevention and security measures because it currently has one of the lowest such investment levels in Asia-Pacific, and the problem of retail theft is only going to continue,” said Paul Chu, president, Asia-Pacific, Checkpoint Systems.
In Asia-Pacific, shrinkage was highest among categories like cosmetics, perfumes, health and beauty and pharmacy; apparel and accessories; and video, music and gaming.
The most-stolen items from the cosmetics category globally included shaving products, perfumes, lipsticks, scissors, nail clippers, tweezers. High quality seafood, alcohol and fresh meat made up the top three most-stolen grocery ‘high-risk’ product lines.
Checkpoint said the report has been prepared from confidential details provided by 1,187 of the largest retailers across 43 countries, representing more than 250,000 retail outlets with combined sales of Rs44.003 trillion (Rs44,00,000 crore) or $986.58 billion.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}