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Organized retail crime is on the rise in major cities across the U.S., according to a recent national survey.
The National Retail Federation – the largest retail trade association – recently released its 2023 report, which found that participating retailers reported inventory losses, also known as “shrinkage,” of more than $112 billion.
Organized retail crime is a group of individuals who commit coordinated robberies across organizations, most often planned through social media. Smashing and grabbing are a common tactic used by thieves to quickly get in and out of a store with stolen goods.
The report was based on information from 177 retail companies that collectively generated $1.6 trillion in retail sales across 97,000 retail locations in 2022. Compared to 2021, the average shrinkage rate increased from 1.4% to 1.6% in fiscal year 2022.
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Pedestrians walk past a Target store in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, DC on August 17, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“And the truth is that it’s not just big companies, it’s companies big and small. These are main street retailers and retailers in small towns across the country,” NRF CEO Matt Shay said Thursday in a news conference with lawmakers on Capitol Hill . “And this is not just about the dollars, but in some cases the tragic loss of life, the violence, the aggression that is taking place in these retail locations.”
Major cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland, Houston, Seattle, New York, Denver and a connection between Sacramento and Chicago are among the biggest targets of organized retail theft. LA topped the list for the fifth consecutive year.
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Bystanders recorded video of the smash-and-grab incident. (@queen.v009 / LOCAL NEWS X /TMX)
“[Retailers] “We did everything we could to make their stores and premises safe,” Shay continued. “They’ve added additional security measures, they’ve protected the merchandise in these stores and they’ve trained staff to deal with these situations – and yet we still need additional help and additional support.”
Shay met with Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., during Thursday’s press conference. Lawmakers approved their Anti-Organized Retail Crime Act, a bill to combine multiple law enforcement agencies to combat retail crime.
In Iowa, organized retail theft is a $1 billion problem, Grassley said.
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“But you also have to recognize not only the theft, but also the danger to employees and the costs to consumers. And then the impact on individual retailers,” he said.
Masto added, “I can’t go into a retail store in my community without hearing from someone, whether it’s a friend or family or someone who works there who has experienced this.”
Last year, the NRF lobbied Congress to pass the INFORM Consumers Act, which went into effect and now requires online marketplaces to authenticate the identities of high-volume third-party sellers.