Organised retail crime (ORC) continues to present a serious challenge to retail in the United States, says the National Retail Federation (NRF), a US trade body. It’s released its 15th annual ORC study.
NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention Bob Moraca said. “These criminal gangs are sophisticated, but so are retail loss prevention teams. Retailers are committing more resources and constantly evolving their tactics to fight this ongoing challenge.”
The report found that near all, 97 percent of retailers had been victimised by ORC in the past year and that most, 68 percent had seen an increase in ORC activity. Losses averaged $703,320 per $1 billion in sales, marking the fourth year in a row that the figure topped the $700,000 mark. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of retailers said ORC is a higher priority for their companies than five years ago, while 56 percent were allocating additional technology resources to the issue and 44 percent were increasing their loss prevention budgets.
Among steps taken to fight ORC, 38 percent had changed or were planning to change return policies while 37 percent were doing the same with point-of-sale policies, 27 percent with employee screening and 24 percent with the way they handle trespassing. While ORC often involves thefts from stores, 73 percent of those surveyed had been victims of cargo theft. Theft of products in the supply chain occurred most often en route from distribution centres to stores (59 percent), at distribution centres (33) percent and en route between stores (30 percent).
Stolen merchandise is sometimes returned for store credit, usually in the form of gift cards. Those cards can then be sold for cash, and 51 percent of retailers had found them for sale on websites while 17 percent found them in pawnshops. Much as in the UK, ORC gangs typically steal a mix of high-end designer products and easy-to-sell-on everyday necessities. Top items stolen included designer clothing, infant formula, razors, designer handbags, laundry detergent, denim pants, energy drinks, allergy medicine and high-end liquor among others.
US retailers in areas with state-level ORC laws said they were happy with help received from local law enforcement (84 percent) and state law enforcement (75 percent) but somewhat less so with federal law enforcement (64 percent). ORC often crosses state lines, and 71 percent said a federal ORC law is needed. Some US states have increased the threshold of what constitutes a felony in recent years, allowing criminals to steal more before being subject to the stronger penalties that come with a felony. Among retailers surveyed, 51 percent had seen an increase in average ORC case values in states where that has happened. Again echoing the UK, the US survey found that most, 68 percent of retailers said ORC gangs had shown more aggression or violence in the past year, and many anti-ORC resources are directed toward protecting the safety of customers and employees.
The top five cities for ORC in the past year in order were Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Chicago and Miami.
