Retail Inventory Shrink Increased to $45.2 Billion in 2015
Retailers’ inventory shrink averaged 1.38 percent of retail sales, or $45.2 billion in 2015, up by $1.2 billion from 2014, according to the 2016 National Retail Security Survey, conducted in collaboration by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida.
According to the report, 47 percent of retailers surveyed reported increases in overall inventory shrink in 2015, with shoplifting accounting for the greatest cause with an average loss of $377 per incident (39 percent), up nearly $60 from 2014.