1.2 billion due to organised retail crime over the past two years alone. David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation (NRF), the main retail body in the US, recently stated that retailers are estimated to lose US$95.2 billion due to theft in 2023 alone. He went on to say that retailers are dealing with epidemic levels of shoplifting, with large quantities of merchandise being stolen, often by repeat offenders. He said this is tied to large transnational organised groups, using theft for financial gain. Store closures Brittain Ladd, strategy advisor for Shatranj Capital Partners, recently commented on the trend of retailers choosing to lock up nearly all of their products behind plexiglass to prevent retail theft. In his opinion, plexiglass is not the answer. Closing stores is. Walmart is cited as a prime example. Shoplifting has been costing it millions of dollars in lost sales, and this year, it will close 20 stores in 11 states. Ladd noted that Whole Foods Market, CVS Pharmacy, Aldi US and Save A Lot have also closed stores in Chicago and other locations because of continued losses and rising crime. “According to the retailers who operate stores in Chicago, crime has become such an issue, some retailers have determined that closing their stores is their only option. My own research indicates that over 75 per cent of retailers in Chicago have negatively been impacted by crime,” he told Inside Retail. Ladd thinks retailers should consider hiring private security companies to confront and remove shoplifters. High-security vending machines could be another alternative to alleviate the problem, or investing more in e-commerce. “Retail CEOs are finally waking up to the fact that they can no longer ignore crime because of the severe economic losses to their companies. I anticipate that retailers will close the majority of their stores in high crime areas. It’s the best move they can make,” he noted. The big picture According to Mark Stafford, national sales director in ANZ for Checkpoint Systems, a company that specialises in loss prevention, the rise in homelessness and loitering has contributed towards aggressive behaviour and increases in theft at high-risk locations. “Retailers are resorting to various strategies to address their crime concerns, such as altering trading hours, reconfiguring merchandise assortment, locking more produce away, tagging more products, changing layouts and transforming store design,” he told Inside Retail. He, too, believes that law enforcement agencies have a pivotal role to play in addressing and combating retail crime rates. He feels that these agencies have the ability to assist in planning, formulating and developing strategies to respond to these crimes in a way that retail businesses themselves do not. “The challenges retailers face within areas of high crime rates is staff safety. As the frequency and severity of violent and abusive attacks on staff increases, retailers are left searching for ways to keep staff safe, whilst mitigating occurrences of theft,” he added. At the end of the day, he feels the retail landscape will become closely monitored, with more and more businesses utilising theft-deterrent measures such as tags, smart labels and technological security devices on stock and inventory.  “The everyday consumer experience will drastically change with less stock readily available to be viewed on the showroom floor,” he concluded.