KPMG International's Global Retail Loss Prevention Survey 2009 seeks to establish how large retail organizations currently define shrinkage, how they respond organizationally to the challenge now, and how they plan to respond in the future.
Key issues discussed include:
- Effects and causes
The majority of companies surveyed worldwide—94 percent—estimate shrinkage as a percentage of turnover in the 0–3 percent range.
- Setting policy, measuring loss
Many companies worldwide (and all companies in the Asia Pacific region) report that shrinkage is a board-level issue.
- Working with employees and suppliers
A large proportion of companies use pay incentives linked to loss prevention, with companies in the Americas most likely to use incentives.
- Investing in loss prevention
Technology, training, and in-store security are the key investments that companies have made to combat shrinkage—over 90 percent of companies have invested in all three areas. Companies are much less likely to invest in advice and other services from third party providers—less than half of companies use third party providers.