The latest survey from the well respected Retail Knowledge is out. The full press release can be found here.

The study represents retailers with annual sales totalling £137 billion; 30% of the total UK retail sector and encompasses retail performance of 42,700 stores.

Some key findings from the report

• Shrink levels have increased by over 22.2% in 2014, rising from 0.9% of sales last year to 1.1% this year
• The shrinkage rates vary by retail sector from department stores at 2.4% of sales to home shopping retailers at 0.6% of sales.
• In the UK the biggest area of store loss remains shoplifting at 39%, closely followed by
• Theft or fraud by employees at 33%, which has also seen an increase by 6% since last year