News
AU$2.2 billion in losses for retailers anticipated for 2009
By Mark Russell - SMH
RETAILERS expect thieves to steal $5.8 billion in cash and goods this year because of tougher times.
This would represent a jump of $2.2 billion in losses compared with $3.6 billion lost last year from theft.
The Australian Retailers Association - the peak body in an industry that employs more than 1.2 million people - said its research showed theft was on the rise this year as people struggled to cope financially.
The association estimates that more than half the $5.8 billion (which equates to 2 per cent of the retail industry's total estimated sales revenue of $290 billion for 2008), would be lost because of employee theft.
The rule of thumb for retailers is that about 55 per cent of theft is committed by staff and 45 per cent by shoplifters.
The problem for the public is that the losses are invariably passed on to the consumer through higher prices.
Association executive director Richard Evans said the predicted percentage increase in theft from 1.5 per cent of total sales revenue ($240 billion) in 2007 to 2 per cent this year was significant.
"When you're dealing with money, it's tempting to put it in your pocket in tough times," Mr Evans said.
"With staff it could go directly from the till or it could be offering discounts to friends when discounts don't apply.
"What retailers have to do is spend more time reducing the opportunity for people to steal."
Mr Evans said some staff did not think it was wrong to steal because they were working longer hours and not being paid well enough.
"They don't see it as stealing. They see it as their right to take it."
The Australian Institute of Criminology's principal criminologist, Dr Russell Smith, said employee theft was on the rise in Australia as times get tougher, with most cases involving problem gamblers.
Dr Smith said the institute recently released a report showing employers were the biggest victims of gambling-motivated fraud.
The new study, based on a review of online reports of 528 legal judgments of 12,662 criminal offences heard in Australian courts, found that in the past decade more than $250 million may have been lost to fraud-related gambling.
Of the offenders prosecuted for gambling-motivated fraud, more than 58 per cent were male, and most were between 31 and 50.
"The likely victims were employers [67 per cent] but the largest amounts were stolen from state governments [an average of $3.8 million per government] and from clients of financial advisers, accountants and solicitors [an average of $1.45 million]," the study said.
The money was used to fund poker-machine addiction in 56 per cent of the cases, with $65,000 being the average amount stolen.
Then came casinos, with 23 per cent or $71,000, horse racing, with 8 per cent or $71,500 and TAB gambling, 6 per cent or $5600.
Useful Tips for Retailers
The ability to identify shoplifters is the bread and butter of loss prevention. Many from outside the retail security profession would probably find it surprising to know that when you get two experienced covert security officers together, often talk won't be about the physical side of apprehending a shoplifter, it will generally be about how to get to the point of apprehension.
This article is designed to help retailers and shopfloor staff identify shoplifters themselves and also suggests ways retailers can make it easier for loss prevention officers to do their job.
Very few people have the ability to identify a potential shoplifter.
Some people are good at dealing with conflict when a shoplifter is caught and carrying out procedures by the book. However, those who can't identify a shoplifter find it difficult to reduce theft - if you can't identify the thieves, you can't catch or deter them.
Picking shoplifters
There are two key factors that help catch shoplifters. The first is a store's anti-shoplifting equipment. The second is a learned ability to identify shoplifters.
The latter represents the toughest and most frustrating experience for any retailer who wants to be proactive about reducing theft.
A major failure in loss prevention thinking is that a shoplifter can be identified by the way they dress. For example, a person with an open carry bag and large baggy jacket is worth viewing. Plenty of room to conceal does not mean a person is more likely to conceal.
Shoplifters quite often place items down the front of their pants, up their top, and even exit a store with unpaid unconcealed product in their hand. It's better to focus on other areas.
Very few shoplifters can behave calmly before, during and after they have committed the act of theft. Monitor facial expressions - on entering the store, many shoplifters have a serious look of determination on their face. They often don't look around and instead move quickly to the target area, usually determined by previous visits.
Once there, the shoplifter has an extremely heightened state of awareness. This results in fast body movements, for example, they may look left and right quickly and touch the store product in front of them (but not necessarily the product they are about to steal).
At this time they hate to be approached by the store's staff and often when they are approached they might ask a stupid question, for example, "Do you know where the DVD section is?" - when they're standing directly in front of the DVD section.
They might also appear sweaty and look a bit scared.
Another valuable point is that the majority of shoplifters will be facing counter side. That is, they will look in the direction of staff situated at the counter over the top of the fixture or shelves. This is what they do when they have identified what they are going to steal and are just waiting for the safest moment to conceal. It is at this point many staff approach shoplifters in their store mistakenly thinking the person in the process of shoplifting is actually just looking for help.
Viewing suspects
For most retailers, having the money to pay for the latest in theft prevention equipment is more a dream than reality. Many retailers get by with minimal help from such technology.
There are many weird and sneaky ways a retailer can view shoplifters from the shop floor.
Importantly, to successfully prosecute a shoplifter under the law, someone must see the thief directly before, during and after the act of theft. They must prove a continuous line of sight.
If the shoplifter becomes aware they are being monitored, they will often dump the product and leave. This can be very frustrating, because you might have been watching them for quite some time and they will only go on to shoplift again.
Many things can give you away to a thief who is in the process of stealing. Two of the main ones are direct eye contact with the potential thief and following the suspect around the store.
Predicting and positioning
Once a suspect is identified through their overt body mannerisms, the covert role should be adopted.
The staff member or loss prevention officer who has identified the thief must become a part of the background. Anything that sets them apart from the background quite often results in immediate failure.
This is where 'positioning and predicting' begins. Shoplifters are on the lookout for undercover loss prevention officers, and they are well aware of people following them around and looking at them. They will simply drop the product, leave and come back another day when they feel more comfortable with the surroundings to steal to their heart's desire.
By predicting where a suspect is going to begin the act of stealing, and positioning oneself into a position where the act can be viewed without detection, the shoplifter will carry out his intention and be apprehended, saving a lot of money for the retailer on the day and in the future.
Here's an example of predicting and positioning: You own a bookstore and you notice you have been losing a lot of sci-fi books to shoplifters. Say the sci-fi section is in the fourth aisle furtherest from the counter, but the sci-fi books security tags have been peeled off and dropped in the fifth and furtherest aisle from the counter.
The tearing off of the security tags in the fifth aisle can be assumed to provide the shoplifter with the most amount of comfort when stealing as they have a wall at their back and can watch the staff over the top of the shelves while they are ripping off security tags and concealing the books.
From here, the person pursuing the shoplifter can work on adapting the store environment to catch the shoplifter. For example, the necessary amount of cover can be created at the end of the aisle separating the fourth and fifth aisles which allows someone to watch the shoplifter select, desensitise and conceal the product. By creating tiny cracks between books and signage, the observer can see the whole process from start to finish while appearing to read a magazine.