The National Retail Federation said Thursday that theft and other inventory “shrink” at retailers totaled $48.9 billion in 2016, up from $45.2 billion in 2015. The rise in losses coincided with flat or declining retail security budgets, the group said. Nearly half of the retailers surveyed (48.8%) said inventory shrink increased. Shoplifting accounted for the biggest losses at $798.48 per incident, double the $377.00 average in 2015. The NRF attributes some of the rise to an increase in the threshold for felony crimes, with only larger thefts reported. Employee theft also increased to $1,922.80 from $1,233.77 in 2015. Retailers were asked about return fraud for the first time, reporting an average loss of $1,766.27. The NRF and University of Florida polled 83 loss prevention executives between March 29 and May 1. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 11.1% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 9% for the period.
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