[DC VELOCITY] NRF: shrinkage continues to rise, but maybe not organized crime: Retail group retracts statistic on portion of retail shrink that was caused by “organized retail crime”

[papy]

INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

SAS is posting this important retraction of a claim widely published and discussed throughout 2023, for ecommerce informational purposes only. This topic is closed for comments. Readers are encouraged to navigate to the links below for more information.

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^{The NRF’s retraction of this specific claim certainly does not invalidate the experiences of retailers nationwide coping with shopper theft and fraud. SellersAskSellers is posting this for informational purposes only and does not mean to imply that ORC and non-organized retail theft and fraud involving both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce shops does not exist or is not a legitimate concern.}

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NRF: shrinkage continues to rise, but maybe not organized crime: Retail group retracts statistic on portion of retail shrink that was caused by “organized retail crime”

Added together, the total shrinkage rate reported by a survey of U.S. retailers was 1.44% in 2021, summing up to $94.5 billion in lost value, according to an NRF survey. That number is still accurate, but the NRF has now retracted a claim that $45 billion of the total could be attributed to organized retail crime (ORC), which describes groups of thieves that steal goods and later resell them through fraudulent means or black markets. The original statistic was published in NRF’s April 13 [2023] report titled “Organized Retail Crime: An Assessment of a Persistent and Growing Threat,” and was removed on November 29 [2023], citing an error by a researcher from K2 Integrity, a risk advisory services firm that contributed to the report.

The retraction affects many media stories covering the retail sector over the past year, including articles published in this magazine.

https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/59380-nrf-shrinkage-continues-to-rise-but-crime-rate-is-difficult-to-quantify

A SAMPLE OF OTHER SOURCES:

• 29 NOV 2023 (breaking the story): [RetailDive] Retailers have a crime problem. It’s in the numbers: The issue is complex and often clouded by imprecise data. Sometimes from the industry itself.
• 5 DEC 2023: [REUTERS] US retail lobbyists retract key claim on ‘organized’ retail crime
• 6 DEC 2023: [Fortune] National Retail Federation retracts claim that ‘organized retail crime’ accounted for half of inventory losses in 2021: Potentially incorrect data was used for analysis.
• 6 DEC 2023: [RTP] NRF Retracts Claim that Organized Retail Crime Accounted for ‘Nearly Half’ of Retail Shrink
• 8 DEC 2023: [AP] Retail group pulls back on claim organized retail crime accounts for nearly half of inventory loss
• 8 DEC 2023: [CBS] Lobbying group overstated how much “organized” shoplifting hurt retailers
• 8 DEC 2023: [Retail Brew] NRF removes ‘mistaken’ fact on severity of organized retail crime
• 8 DEC 2023: [WNYC] A Lobbying Group Retracts Key Data Point Around “Organized Retail Crime” (podcast, but with full statements from NRF and CLEAR, and a transcript)