Retail Crime Increases During the Holidays
Fight retail crime during the holidays and beyond

NRF’s third annual Fight Retail Crime Day mobilized the industry

The holiday season is here — and along with the onset of customers, seasonal hires and economic worries come an increase in retail crime.

That is why NRF united the retail industry on Oct. 24 for the third annual Fight Retail Crime Day. This day of action highlighted the need for Congress to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, a bill that would increase federal coordination with law enforcement to address retail crime.

On Fight Retail Crime Day, NRF connected with key lawmakers to encourage support of this key legislation and raised awareness of the continued challenges posed by retail crime.

Connecting with Congress

A key facet of Fight Retail Crime Day was to emphasize with lawmakers the need to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. Throughout October, more than a dozen lawmakers participated in NRF store tours with retailers including American Eagle Outfitters, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, H&M, JCPenney, Macy’s, Target and Total Wine & More. These visits highlighted firsthand the impacts of retail crime and how theft and violence impact their constituents.

NRF effectively demonstrated broad support for CORCA. More than 200 companies signed a letter that NRF sent to Capitol Hill advocating for passage of CORCA, showcasing the industry’s strong support for this bipartisan legislation. Additionally, hundreds of grassroots messages were sent to Capitol Hill by concerned advocates on Fight Retail Crime Day.

Over 150 lawmakers were recognized as “Congressional Retail Crime Fighters” for their backing of CORCA, with nearly 40 of them expressing their support on social media during Fight Retail Crime Day.

Fight Retail Crime Day may be over, but our work continues. Join the effort and send a message to Congress to advocate for policies that enhance community safety and address the rising threat of retail crime. nrf.com


California Voters Approve Anti-Crime Ballot Measure

Anti-Theft Ballot Measure Passes Easily in California
California Increases Penalties for Retail Theft with a Focus on Repeat Offenders
Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36 — which increases the penalties for certain theft and drug crimes — by a margin of more than 40% Tuesday, with 70.4% of voters approving the measure.

In addition to increasing the penalties and mandating treatment for some drug-related crimes, the measure also reverses some of the leniency introduced in 2014’s Proposition 47, which, for example, made the shoplifting of items worth $950 or less a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Now, under the newly passed Prop 36:

• Some misdemeanors will become felonies, including the theft of items worth $950 or less when the person who committed the crime already has two or more past convictions for certain theft crimes (such as shoplifting, burglary or carjacking). The sentence would be up to three years in county jail or state prison; and

• Some felony sentences will be lengthened: For example, Proposition 36 allows felony sentences for theft or damage of property to be lengthened by up to three years if three or more people committed the crime together.

Since the pandemic, Californians have noted a rise in both homelessness as well as retail and drug-related crimes, leading to a general sense of an erosion in public safety. Campaigning under the slogan “Make Crime Illegal Again,” proponents of Prop 36 played on these perceptions and found traction with California voters — despite opposition from most of the state’s Democratic leadership as well as efforts by Governor Gavin Newsom to preempt the measure by passing a swath of retail crime legislation in August.

Californians Against Retail and Residential Theft (CARRT), a coalition of more than 300 business associations, local groups and victim organizations, touted the passage of Prop 36 as a victory for the state’s citizens and businesses: “Californians are increasingly frustrated by the rising crime rates, which is why Proposition 36 passed with overwhelming support,” said Matt Ross, a spokesperson for CARRT in a statement.  retailtouchpoints.com


Business Group Celebrates Passage of CA's Prop 36
'This is just one step towards reversing the damage caused by Proposition 47'

Californians Against Retail And Residential Theft Celebrate the Passage of Proposition 36
Californians Against Retail and Residential Theft (CARRT) issued the following statement after the voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36.

"Californians are increasingly frustrated by the rising crime rates, which is why Proposition 36 passed with overwhelming support," said Matt Ross, spokesperson for CARRT.

"Proposition 36 establishes stricter penalties and greater accountability for repeat offenders of retail theft. Previously, the punishment for a shoplifter was the same regardless of whether it was a person's first offense or their fiftieth. Now, repeat offenders will face significant consequences for their actions.

"CARRT would also like to extend our gratitude to the Proposition 36 campaign and everyone who worked tirelessly to equip law enforcement with more resources to combat crime.

"However, this is just one step towards reversing the damage caused by Proposition 47 and addressing retail and residential theft on Main Street and in our neighborhoods.

"CARRT will closely monitor the implementation of Proposition 36 to ensure that both store employees and customers are safer, and that resources are available for law enforcement and rehabilitation efforts." finance.yahoo.com


Why Californians got tougher on crime
Bleak downtowns and attention-getting retail thefts
From their phones and their television screens and sometimes out their windows, Californians saw their state change quickly in the pandemic. Homelessness grew then and continued to grow. Fatal fentanyl overdoses soared. Brash daytime smash-and-grab robberies floated from TikTok to nightly newscasts.

A constellation of law enforcement, prosecutors and big-box retailers insisted the cause was simple: Punishment wasn’t harsh enough.

They put forward a measure that elevated some low-level crimes to felonies and created avenues to coerce reluctant people into substance abuse treatment. That measure, Proposition 36, passed overwhelmingly Tuesday night. It led 70% to 30% early Wednesday.

It undoes some of the changes voters made with a 2014 ballot measure that turned certain nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors, effectively shortening prison sentences. Amid the pandemic’s visible changes to California, in its growing homeless encampments, its ransacked Nordstroms and its looted rail yards, critics of that previous initiative finally found the right climate to turn back the law.

The strategy at the center of Prop. 36 is still a matter of debate. Its opponents say harsher sentences will never be an effective deterrent to crime. Much of the science, some of it funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, backs them up.

But the victory of Prop. 36, despite opposition from the governor and most of the state’s Democratic leadership, was not about what people know, it’s about what they saw. calmatters.org


Locked Display Cases Are Pushing Shoppers Away
27% of shoppers will switch retailers, abandon purchase if they come across locked-up products: report

More than half of consumers report seeing more merchandise locked up in stores in the past year, according to a recent survey from Numerator.

A majority of in-store shoppers — 60% — have encountered lock-up merchandise in stores on a regular basis, per a survey of more than 5,000 consumers conducted by data tech firm Numerator.

Twenty-seven percent of shoppers said they would choose another retailer or abandon their purchase entirely if they came across locked-up products, but 62% said they would typically wait for assistance from an employee. The survey also found that those unwilling to wait for assistance will spend 21% of their dollars online compared to 18% for those who waited.

Some 61% of shoppers reported seeing an increase in products locked up over the past year, with most of those being seen at drug stores and mass retailers. Retail crime, including shrink, has been a hot topic in the industry in recent years.

“Retail shrink is out of control and theft is eroding retailer sales and margin,” Michael Brown, a partner with global strategy and management consulting firm Kearney, said in an email to Retail Dive. “Consumers are unable to purchase items that are out of stock either as a result of theft or because they’re locked behind glass and are not easily accessed when stores are short staffed. Sales are also impacted when the cost of protecting goods and staffing cabinets is built into the cost of the protected products – this manifests itself as inflation.”

A vast majority of consumers see products locked at mass retailers and drug stores, 68% and 62% respectively. Grocery stores (31%), department stores (25%) and home improvement stores (23%) also see their share of lock-ups. retaildive.com


Stores Looking for New Tech for Locked Display Cases
Retailers are experimenting with new tech to unlock display cases

Stores are scrambling to fix the universally despised shopping experience they created in response to theft.

Instead of freeing your dandruff shampoo and teeth whitening strips, stores are doubling down on their little cages by giving customers the power to open them. Well, eventually.

Walmart is testing new tech that will empower shoppers to unlock pestiferous security locks with their phones. Employees are already using it in a few hundred stores, but now the retailer has discussed rolling it out to Walmart+ loyalty members, Bloomberg reported. CVS is also piloting a system that lets shoppers unlock Tide Pods with its app.

• A company called Indyme says 26 retailers are using its “Freedom Case,” which lets customers enter their phone numbers into a touchscreen device to receive a code that unlocks the case guarding the family-size box of Cheez-Its.

• Indyme doesn’t specify which big-name stores use its product—and most retailers are being cagey on details—but CNN reported that earlier this year, Safeway and Lowe’s were among the stores listed on Indyme’s website as testing the unlocking feature.

Big picture: Stores are scrambling to fix the universally despised shopping experience they created in response to theft. Following the pandemic, big retailers claimed that organized retail theft was skyrocketing, so they locked up all their merch. And while some experts say the cases have deterred shoplifting, they’ve also curbed impulse purchases, annoyed already stretched-thin staff, and pushed shoppers toward online shopping. morningbrew.com


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Retail Impact of Another Trump Presidency
As Trump rises again, so too might inflation

Some retailers could get hit hard by policies promised by the president-elect, especially tariffs and taxes, though tax breaks may be a tailwind.

A second Trump administration is set to usher in a fresh period of volatility for retailers, according to several analyst reports Wednesday.

“For retail, a Trump victory brings a mixed bag of positives and negatives, with a large dose of uncertainty,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders said in emailed comments.

Tariffs are in focus, given their effects on the operations of retail segments as well as on the consumer. And new levies on imports, especially at the levels proposed by Trump during the election, could once again spur inflation, as retailers pass on higher prices to their customers.

Wells Fargo economists Jay Bryson and Michael Pugliese said that Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariff on U.S. trading partners and his proposed 60% tariff on China “would impart a modest stagflationary shock to the U.S. economy in 2025,” and estimated that the core consumer price index inflation rate next year would surge from 2.7% to 4%.

The Federal Reserve is also unlikely to continue its rate cut policies, and unemployment will likely rise if countries retaliate with their own tariffs, they said. retaildive.com
 
RELATED: GlobalData: Impact of Trump 2.0 on U.S. retailers


Can In-Store Better Compete With Online Inventories?
Consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated not being able to find a product in store when it’s widely available online, according to AlixPartners’ 2024 Consumer Sentiment Index.

AlixPartners wrote in the study, “‘Right product, right place, right time’ echoes in every retail conference room, yet as retailers have expanded online assortments and marketplaces to attract new customers and traffic, it’s become more challenging to avoid frustrating shoppers when they can’t find their size or their desired item in-store.”

Across retailers, AlixPartners finds that in-store assortments are, on average, only about 9% as large as the online assortment. Among different sectors, mass retailers only offer 2% of their online SKU in store; department stores, 7%; jewelry, 12%; active, 16%; footwear, 19%, and specialty, 32%. retailwire.com


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