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Statistics from NRF 2015

With the conclusion of NRF, the team at ISS would like to share some of the main focus points that were brought up.

In an article written by Kathy Grannis Allen of nrf.com, she discusses the results of a new study that was released from NRF PROTECT.  The study surveyed 100 senior loss prevention executives from various sectors of retail, spanning 45 countries, in March and April 2015.  According to the study, “retailers say inventory shrink averaged 1.38 percent of retail sales, or $44 billion, in 2014”.

 

Specifically, retailers surveyed estimate that shoplifting accounted for the largest part of reported shrink in 2014 – 38%, followed by employee/internal theft (34.5%), administrative and paperwork errors (16.5%), vendor fraud or error (6.8%) and unknown loss (6.1%).

Retailers across the nation truly understand the value of a strong loss prevention department.  In the companies surveyed, “39.4 percent say their budget for 2015 increased over the last year; just over one-third (36.6%) said their budgets would be similar to what they were last year – leaving only 23.9 percent of respondents with decreased resources.”  These figures show that almost half of the retailers are willing to spend more to ensure their inventory shrink levels remain minimal.

In conclusion, the value of loss prevention continues to increase for retailers each year.  Despite having one of the most difficult jobs in the industry, loss prevention professionals continue to advance the industry and prove how important they are to their companies.  Industry leaders must continue to set the standard and stress the importance of a strong loss prevention strategy!

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