SPAIN, France and The Netherlands suffer more than any other countries in Europe from shoplifting and break-ins on retail premises, according to recent research.
Euromonitor International and Checkpoint say customers are tending to sleeve items more than they did in the past, but thefts by employees are virtually non-existent now since they are afraid of being caught and losing their jobs.
Food, drink, toiletries and other basics are the most-stolen items nowadays, especially in Spain, as a result of the financial crisis and customers being unable to afford the essentials, the report claims.
Organised criminal gangs are behin around five per cent of incidences of theft, mainly break-ins overnight, the survey claims.
Spain leads the field for 'unexplained' losses – due to shoplifting by customers or staff, supplier fraud, or cashing-up or stocktaking errors – totalling 2.62 billion euros, or 1.4 per cent of the total sales per annum in the retail industry, which is just under 187 billion.
France and Holland showed the same percentages.
Belgium and Italy are not far behind, however, with their own 'unexplained' losses accounting for 1.3 per cent of takings.
These work out at 1.2 per cent for Portugal and the UK, and 1.1 per cent in Germany.
Worldwide, Australia and Hong Kong show the same figures as those of Germany, whilst Japan's 'leakages' in profits come to one per cent.
Brazil and México show the worst results, with 1.6 per cent of sales figures 'disappearing' through shoplifting, supplier swindling or in-house errors, followed by Argentina, the USA and China with 1.5 per cent of takings lost in this way.
In Spain, only 18 per cent of 'leakage' is due to cashing-up or stocktaking mistakes and only five per cent caused by wholesalers sneakily overcharging – a total of 27 cents in every euro that 'disappears' is the result of employee theft and half of the 'unexplained' losses are caused by customer shoplifting.
Clothes, shoes, accessories, underwear, small electronic items including sat-navs, games and consoles, and mobile phone add-ons, plus health and beauty items are more likely to be stolen in most countries, with smaller and less-valuable goods taken by opportunists and much more expensive ones stolen by organised gangs seeking to sell them on for a profit.
In Europe alone, shoplifting and supplier fraud costs the retail industry 88.8 billion euros a year.
Spain has spent 186.9 million euros on security devices in the last year which, when added to 'leakage' in profits due to shoplifting, errors and wholesaler swindling, equates to 142 euros for every household in the country.
Electronic tags, particularly large plastic ones which are impossible to remove easily, are generally found to be the most effective anti-shoplifting devices, as is a combination of several different security measures.
Euromonitor International and Checkpoint both found that the 400-euro minimum value on a stolen item for shoplifting to be considered a crime was too lenient.
Below this amount, stealing from a shop is considered a civil offence and subject to a fine, but at 400 euros or more, can carry a prison sentence of six to 18 months – although this will not have to be served if it is a first offence.
The research covered 157 businesses in 16 countries, comprising 160,000 shops in total.
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