Fighting Shoplifting

In 2010, U.S. retailers lost about $40 billion in stolen goods, or 1.5% of the nation’s total retail sales, according to the National Retail Security Survey. More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting in the U.S. the last five years. In the United Kingdom, data from the Centre for Retail Research indicates that shoplifting cost stores there £4.4 billion in 2010.

These losses are inevitably passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

RFID can be part of a store’s programme to fight shoplifting and save money. Electronic Article Surveillance – those tags that “beep” if a person leaves the store without paying for something – can be combined with RFID to enable anti-shoplifting effects as well as help shop owners with inventory management and quicker and easier stock control.