---
title: Shoplifting and Other Fraud Cost Retailers Nearly $50 Billion Last Year
description: Loss of inventory from stores due to causes like shoplifting and employee theft cost the U.S. retail industry nearly $48.9 billion in 2016
authors:
  - name: Katie Reilly
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published: '2017-06-22T23:49:58.000Z'
modified: '2024-04-17T06:08:00.000Z'
section: Identity Theft
tags:
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![Shoplifting and Other Fraud Cost Retailers Nearly $50 Billion Last Year](https://img.money.com/2017/06/shoplifting-survey-retail.jpg?quality=85&w=1012&h=569&crop=1)

Loss of inventory from stores — due to causes including [shoplifting](https://time.com/4439650/walmart-shoplifting-crime/) and employee theft — cost the U.S. retail industry [nearly $48.9 billion](https://nrf.com/resources/retail-library/national-retail-security-survey-2017) in 2016.

The [National Retail Security Survey](https://nrf.com/resources/retail-library/national-retail-security-survey-2017), conducted annually by the National Retail Federation trade group, found that the average inventory shrink rate increased to 1.44% in 2016. That figure — which measures missing inventory — includes items that go missing because of shoplifting, theft by employees, administrative errors, vendor fraud and other unknown loss.

Most missing inventory (36.5%) was attributed to shoplifting by outside customers, followed by employee theft (30%). Administrative errors accounted for 21.3% of inventory shrink, while vendor fraud accounted for 5.4%.

The survey — which included 83 retailers, some of which have multiple brands — found that the average cost per shoplifting incident doubled to $798.48. The average cost per employee theft incident was $1,922.80. The survey attributed that, in part, to a decrease in punitive action against shoplifters and employees.

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