Videos of brazen shoplifting incidents, like this one posted to social media in 2021, have turned retail theft into a national issue.
The metric incorporates inventory losses caused by external theft, including organized retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or mismarked items and other losses.
Whatever the numbers say, though, retailers maintain that organized retail crime has gotten worse.
Organized retail crime typically refers to large-scale retail theft and fraud by groups of professional shoplifters who conspire to steal and resell stolen merchandise.
The NRF estimates that organized retail crime costs companies an average of just 7 cents for every $100 in sales.