Shoplifters’ revenge the new worry for retailers
The rapid advance of self-service checkouts relying on customer honesty, a shortage of 32,000 retail workers and opportunistic crime gangs are behind a worrying new trend for retailers.
Retail theft or shoplifting has become a big drag on the profits of ASX retailers this earnings season. It was specifically singled out by new Coles chief executive Leah Weckert as she delivered her first results as the head of the nation’s second-largest supermarket chain. Total stock loss was up 20 per cent in fiscal 2023 due to higher rates of theft across its 850 stores.
Crime rings are pilfering high-value items from health and beauty aisles such as make up and moisturisers, and reselling them on online marketplaces.
Supermarket giant Coles says theft is becoming a major problem.
The crisis has another layer of complexity with shoppers demanding the convenience of self-checkouts, which enable some opportunistic consumers to steal items without physical surveillance. This is because of the relative looseness of the self-service system compared with a decade ago, when shoppers transacted at fully staffed checkouts.
Outside of grocery settings, a shortage of workers on the shop floor has made it tougher for staff to prevent brazen theft, with “smash and grab” activity on the rise.
The latest ABS statistics showed there were 32,200 vacant positions in retail trade in Australia in May across the $400 billion sector.
Estimates of the amount of stock lost to theft by retailers range between 1 per cent to 3 per cent of total wholesale revenue. With the generally thin margins involved in retail it has a significant impact on the bottom line. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research revealed that theft from stores had jumped 23.7 per
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