Retail staff positive attitude to loss prevention

The UK’s top retailers view creating a positive

staff attitude towards loss prevention as their number one priority in the battle against rising shrinkage, according to the Retail Fraud Study, a major new piece of research into the UK’s retail sector.

The Retail Fraud Study, run by leading industry experts Retail Knowledge in association with retail solution providers Volumatic and RGIS, found that retailers view creating an intrinsic culture of loss prevention in their organisations as key in tackling their losses of £3.4 billion due to theft and fraud.

The study worked directly with 100 of the UK’s top retailers including Tesco, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer’s accounting for 42% of the total UK retail space.

Paul Bessant, Managing Director at Retail Knowledge, commented: “Last year retailer’s losses due to criminal activity nearly matched pre-tax profits as a percentage of sales of which nearly a fifth was attributed to their own staff. However on the flipside 40% of all criminal activity in stores was reported by honest employees and this has made retailers realise that their staff can play a critical role in reducing losses. As a result retailers are starting to promote a healthy attitude within their organisations, to create a positive culture of loss prevention amongst staff, and prioritising a comprehensive approach to reducing losses.”

60% of retailers believed creating a culture of loss prevention could reduce their losses with 20% making it their number one priority. Many of those who identified creating a culture of loss prevention as a priority said that staff training programmes to raise awareness of issues across the business as one of the best methods of reducing shrinkage.