Unmasking Organized Retail Crime:
Strategies for Countermeasures
Organized Retail Crime (ORC) has
emerged as a significant threat to the retail industry.
According to the 2022 National Retail Security
Survey, there was a 26.5% spike in ORC between 2020 and 2021 and 70% of
retailers surveyed believed the threat of ORC had increased during the past five
years.
Big-box retailers and large-format grocery stores are especially vulnerable to
ORC gangs as most items are unsecured inside the store and the staff cannot be
actively manning every corner of the store. Recently, the CEO of Target
announced that ORC may contribute as much as $500 million in losses in 2023.
The impact of organized retail crime extends beyond financial losses for
retailers.
Organized retail crime poses multi-dimensional threats to retail chains:
-
Affects consumers through increased prices
-
Poses safety risk due to stolen and tampered goods
-
Imposes additional strain on an already stretched law enforcement
-
Undermines the overall security and customer experience
The absence of comprehensive federal legislation specifically targeting ORC, the
high cost of deploying loss prevention teams specifically to target ORC gangs,
combined with the decriminalization of low-level offenses in certain states, has
created an environment where the benefits of engaging in such criminal
activities far outweigh the risks.
This
blog post explores the factors contributing to the surge in ORC and proposes
effective countermeasures to mitigate this escalating problem.
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