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- Retailers lost a record $112.1 billion to inventory shrink in 2022, per an industry survey.
- The number is up from $94 billion in 2021, and represents 1.6% of total sales.
- External and internal theft accounted for roughly two-thirds of the losses.
Retailers reported losing a record $112.1 billion to inventory shrink in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation's annual Retail Security Survey, published Tuesday.
External theft was the largest contributing factor to shrink, followed by theft by employees. Combined, the two categories of theft account for roughly two-thirds of total shrink.
In addition, more than two-thirds of respondents said they were seeing higher levels of violence and aggression from retail criminals than in prior years.
As a percentage of sales, inventory shrink ticked up to 1.6% from 1.4% in 2021, and the total losses are roughly $18 billion higher than the prior record of $94 billion in 2021.
The survey polls 177 brands across 28 retail sectors, representing $1.6 trillion annual sales in 2022.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.