POS & retail
What Retail Shrink Really Costs, According to NRF
The National Retail Federation estimated shrink at 1.6 percent of sales in fiscal 2022, about 112 billion dollars. What it includes and why it matters.
The headline figure
The National Retail Federation's 2023 National Retail Security Survey reported that the average shrink rate rose to 1.6 percent of sales in fiscal 2022, up from 1.4 percent the year before. Applied to total retail sales, NRF put the loss at 112.1 billion US dollars.
What shrink includes
Shrink is the difference between the stock your records say you have and the stock you actually have. NRF's breakdown for 2022 attributed an average of 36 percent to external theft, including organized retail crime, 29 percent to employee theft, and 27 percent to process and control failures and errors. The rest came from other causes.
Read the number with care
Trade press noted that the dollar figure is an extrapolation, because the shrink rate is multiplied by total retail sales, so inflation and spending patterns affect the result. A shop's own shrink rate will differ from the average. The value of the figure is as a reminder that stock which cannot be accounted for is a real, recurring cost.
Start with accurate records
You cannot reduce what you do not measure. A point-of-sale system that scans every sale and updates stock automatically gives you a record to compare against the shelf. Our planned MayPos Shop is designed around quick barcode checkout, product and stock management, and daily sales and cash reports.
