WASHINGTON — Retailers have made a little progress in reducing organized retail crime, according to the National Retail Federation’s sixth annual ORC survey.
Among surveyed retailers, 89.5% say their company has been a victim of ORC within the past 12 months, a slight decrease from last year’s 92.2%. The survey also found that nearly six out of 10 (58.9%) retailers have seen an increase in ORC activity in the last 12 months, down from the nearly three-quarters (73.0%) who said so last year.
As the economy continues its slow recovery, retailers are starting to invest more resources into ORC awareness and prevention. Nearly half (48.4%) of retailers say they are allocating additional resources to address ORC, up from 41.8% of respondents last year.
With help from NRF’s recently announced partnership with eBay, as well as initiatives between NRF and federal state and law enforcement agencies, retailers have had some success identifying stolen merchandise at physical fence locations such as pawn shops and temporary stores (62.5%) and through e-fencing operations (66.1%), where stolen merchandise is sold through online auction sites. Both represent an increase over last year.
When asked if they believe top management understands the complexity and severity of ORC, 50.0% of retailers said yes, up from 48.7% last year. Many retailers surveyed also say law enforcement understands the problem the industry faces (39.5% vs. 37.7% last year).
“The relationships retailers have built with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are making it harder for felons, but billions are still being lost each year from this exhausting battle with criminals, “ said Joe LaRocca, NRF’s senior asset protection advisor. “NRF will continue to lead the fight to make sure these criminals are severely punished while federal agents and police continue to wipe out other crime rings.”
