Based on responses from 100 participating U.S. retailers : National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) conducted by Dr. Richard Hollinger, criminology professor at the Univ. of Florida.
U.S. Retailers lost $44 billion as a result of shoplifting, employee and vendor theft, and administrative error (collectively called inventory shrink) in 2014, totaling 1.38 percent of total sales. This is according to a study released by NRF PROTECT, the industry’s largest retail loss prevention event.

The report found that shoplifting was responsible for the largest part of shrink (38 percent); followed by employee/internal theft (34.5 percent), administrative and paperwork errors (16.5 percent), vendor fraud or error (6.8 percent), and unknown loss (6.1 percent).

Of the retailers studied, grocery stores and supermarkets reported the highest levels of shrink at 3.23 percent. Men’s and women’s specialty apparel retailers and department stores experienced a shrink average of 1.22 percent, while sporting goods and recreational products retailers saw shrinkage of 1.17 percent.

The complete report is available for download on the NRF Web site.