RETAIL SHRINKAGE STILL HIGHEST IN INDIA

In an annual survey conducted by the Centre for Retail Research in Nottingham, UK, the Indian retail sector lost Rs 9296 crores (USD 2065 Million) to theft and shoplifting. As per the Global Retail Theft Barometer Study, India has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of retail shrinkage in the world. In India, 47.3% of retail shrinkage was due to shoplifting and 26.4% due to employee theft. The highest rate of shrinkage was seen in Apparels.
 
Globally, retail theft was estimated at US $ 107.3 Billion which translates into 1.36% of total retail sales for the period July 2009 – June 2010 which is reduction from the previous year’s 1.43 %. As per the study , the lowest rate of shrinkage was seen in Taiwan which stands at 0.87% of retail sales. The average rate in the Asia-Pacific region was 1.16%.
 The decrease in shrinkage over the previous year was primarily due to increased spending by retailiers on loss prevention and security which went up by 9.3% to US$ 26.8 Billion.
Source : PTI23112010