89% Of Small Business Owners Experienced Shoplifting In 2021: Study

More than half of U.S. small business owners have seen a rise in shoplifting during 2021, according to a new study released by Business.org.

What Happened: In a new poll of 700 small business owners, 89% of respondents said they experienced shoplifting this year, up 1% from 2020, with 56% reporting an increased level of thievery from the previous year and 54% experiencing an increase during peak shopping seasons.

Small business owners reported that daily shoplifting nearly doubled year-over-year, from 14% in 2020 to 23% in 2021, with 25% of respondents dealing with shoplifting on a weekly basis and 23% on a daily basis.

Most of the shoplifters prefer smaller-value items that are easier to pocket in grab-and-go miscreancy, such as food and drink, clothing and cosmetics, although the survey found small business owners are also being robbed of money and electronics. One-quarter of the survey’s respondents said they’ve encountered customers using stolen credit cards and 21% had customers steal something while making a purchase.

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What Happens Next: The survey found that 15% of the shoplifting incidents turned violent this year, but not every small business owner reports the shoplifting to law enforcement: only 57% of respondents said they called the police in 2021 because of shoplifting.

As a result of shoplifting, 25% of small businesses have increased their product prices. But some small business owners are also dealing with internal shoplifters — 22% of respondents said they had employees steal from them during 2021.

Photo: Morning Calm Weekly/Flickr Creative Commons