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European retailers suffer EUR 29 billion losses due to shrinkage
08/12/2006
EuroCIS 2007 shows the latest security solutions
European retailers will lose EUR 29 billion as a result of shrinkage this year, according to the results of the sixth European Theft Barometer. Measured in terms of retail sales, the shrinkage rate in 2006 is 1.24 percent. The downward trend that began five years ago is therefore continuing in 2006 (2002: 1.45 percent), but with the lowest decrease for five years.
Shrinkage costs German retailers nearly EUR 5 billion
Compared with the other 23 European countries surveyed, Germany has one of the lowest shrinkage rates (1.07 percent) after Switzerland (0.92 percent) and Austria (0.96 percent). The highest rates are in the Czech Republic (1.42 percent), Slovakia (1.4 percent) and Hungary (1.38 percent). Even though the shrinkage rate in Germany is relatively low when measured in terms of sales, the absolute costs due to shrinkage-related losses will still be very high in 2006 at EUR 5 billion.
Around EUR 8 billion was invested in security solutions in 2006
To combat shrinkage, European retailers invested EUR 7.989 billion in security solutions in 2006 - EUR 356 million more than in 2005. Earlier studies had shown that there is a direct link between investment in security solutions and the general decline in shrinkage.
EuroCIS 2007, International Trade Fair Communications, Information and Security Technology in Retail, taking place in Düsseldorf from 27 February to 1 March 2007, will provide a complete overview of the innovative equipment available for preventing and uncovering shop theft. The latest developments in security technology, from electronic tagging, source tagging, video surveillance and access controls through to money processing and disposal will be presented.
Dishonest staff an ever bigger problem
Dishonest customers account for the lion's share of retail losses in 2006. Theft by customers - from casual thieves to organized gangs - cost retailers EUR 14.159 billion this year. However, compared with last year, there has been a slight fall from 49.2 to 48.8 percent. Internal theft by dishonest staff on the other hand has risen for the second time in a row. It has increased to 30.7 percent (2005: 29.9 percent), representing a loss of EUR 8.925 billion. It is believed that the increase in employee-related shrinkage is due on the one hand to a small number of dishonest employees and, on the other, to the fact that organized gangs have succeeded in planting criminals in the workforce. 6.2 percent of the shrinkage, i.e. losses of EUR 1.794 billion, is due to suppliers and 14.3 percent or EUR 4.160 billion to internal errors.
The chief items stolen by customers and employees alike are things which can be easily sold on: clothing, perfume, designer fashion items, shoes, razor blades, cosmetics, spirits, DVDs, video games and electronic articles. The measures used to protect these products included removing them from open sale, placing them in locked showcases and cabinets, displaying empty boxes, attaching chains, cables or lines as well as various EAS (electronic article surveillance) tagging devices, either open or concealed and sometimes attached at source, which allow the article concerned to be displayed freely. Despite these measures, almost half of these most-stolen items are still not protected against theft.
The European Theft Barometer is the world's largest survey on crime and losses in the retail sector. The findings were collected over 12 months up to June 2006 from 466 large European retail companies. These operate a total of 28,297 sales outlets which together generated revenues in 2006 of EUR 422.19 billion - that's 18 percent of total sales in the European retail sector. The study, carried out by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) in Nottingham, is financed with the support of Checkpoint Systems Europe, one of the world's leading security solutions companies and an exhibitor at EuroCIS, International Trade Fair for Communications, Information and Security Technology in Retail.
Shrinkage in European Retail in Figures [Download PDF]
EuroCIS 2007 will be open to trade visitors from 10am daily between Tuesday, 27 February 2007 and Thursday, 1 March 2007. On Tuesday and Thursday, the fair will close at 6pm. Wednesday is the "Day for SMEs" and the fair will remain open until 8pm. A one-day ticket costs EUR 20, and a two-day ticket EUR 35. Students and trainees pay EUR 10. For those who pre-order and register online at www.eurocis.com, the one-day ticket costs EUR 15 and the two-day ticket EUR 27, plus postage in each case. All admission tickets include free transport to and from the fair on the VRR public transport network. For more information about EuroCIS, visit www.eurocis.com.
Your press contact:
Dr. Cornelia Jokisch, Andrea Erps
Sonja Zimmermann
Tel.: +49 (0)211/4560-998/-997
Tel.: +49 (0)211/4560-999
Fax: +49 (0)211/4560-8548
E-mail: JokischC@messe-duesseldorf.de
ErpsA@messe-duesseldorf.de
ZimmermannS@messe-duesseldorf
