Перегляд вихідного коду сторінки U. S. Retailers Expect $9 Billion in Theft During Holidays

A new study conducted by the Center for Retail Research, an independent research group in the United Kingdom, reports that retailers in the United States are expected to lose $8. 9 billion during the 2012 holiday season (mid-November by means of Christmas) due to shoplifting, employee theft, and vendor or distribution losses. That figure is up 4 percent from last year.


The report, funded by the grant from Checkpoint Systems, indicates that shoplifters will steal $3. 8 billion worth of products. Employees will rip off retailers to the melody of $4. 7 billion, while another $400 million will be lost due to vendor fraud or perhaps administrative errors.


Radio frequency identification probably are unable to do much to stop shoplifting, as people will usually find a way to steal from retailers. But having serialized data on everything within a store would let a retailer know what has been taken, so that those products could then be replenished. There would be fewer instances of items sitting in the back because a retailer thinks taken items are still on the shelf, which would equate to greater sales and fewer markdowns.


Even more important, RFID tags might help reduce the incidence of employee theft, which is a bigger problem than shoplifting. American Apparel found which at its RFID-enabled stores, internal shrinkage declined through an average of 55 percent¡ªand, at some stores, by just as much as 75 percent (see RFID Delivers Unexpected Benefits at American Apparel). Stacey Shulman, American Apparel's VP of technology, attributes this decrease to a reduction in process errors, as well as a change in the company's lifestyle.


"Like many retailers, internal theft and procedure issues account for about 60 percent of our reduce, " Shulman told RFID Journal. "RFID, as it happens, affects internal shrink in a profound way. We measure everything, and have accountability of every item. Every single item counts, and when we change that tradition, employees start treating product better. Internal theft really does go down, and process errors go down. "


Which is something most retailers are not factoring into their return-on-investment (ROI) calculations. If theft keeps going up, still they might want to start thinking about RFID for reducing shrinkage.


In addition , the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts return fraud will cost retailers another $2. 9 billion this holiday season. Return fraud takes place when people return stolen merchandise, use counterfeit invoices or return items already worn and/or used that are not defective. According to NRF's 2012 Return Fraud Survey, completed by loss-prevention executives at sixty retail companies, the industry will lose an estimated $8. 9 billion to return fraud this year, including $2. nine billion during the holiday season alone. Overall, NRF reports, retailers estimate 4. 6 percent of holiday break returns are fraudulent.


RFID can obviously help reduce return fraud. By linking a unique item into a purchase, a retailer can know if the product or service being returned is legitimate. Of course , not all retailers require a receipt when you return an item, so RFID won't completely eliminate the problem. But if the technology might reduce return fraud by 20 percent, that would be a huge benefit for most retailers.

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