The NRF released their Organized Retail Crime Survey yesterday, and the results are interesting. Here are some of the highlights:

• Nine out of ten retailers (92%) report that their companies were victims of organized retail crime during the past year, up eight percent from 2008.
• Nearly three-fourths (73%) of retailers also reported the level of organized retail crime activity has increased over the past 12 months, an increase of 11 percent from 2008.
• 42% of retailers say their company is allocating additional resources to address organized retail crime.
• Nearly half (49%) of respondents believe senior management in their company understands the seriousness of the issue.

In addition, according to NRF’s Press Release, “Thanks to the new partnerships formed with Federal and local law enforcement officials, retailers have had some success identifying stolen merchandise or gift cards at physical fence locations such as pawn shops and temporary stores (60%) and through online e-fencing operations (60%), where stolen merchandise is sold through online auction sites.”

Organized retail crime can be devastating to a retailer because the losses caused by these groups to a market area can be huge. Does anyone have any great success (or failure) stories they’d like to share? Are you seeing the effects of ORC first hand? If so, is it as bad as it is being reported to be?

Check out the findings first hand by visiting the links above, then come back and let’s talk about it…

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