Supermarkets giants Coles and Woolworths battle losses as retail theft rises to pre-Covid levels
Supermarket giants are experiencing skyrocketing rates of thefts, with Woolworths revealing it loses up to $25m in produce each week.
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Supermarket giants are experiencing skyrocketing rates of thefts, with Woolworths revealing it loses up to $25m in produce each week.
Retail theft increased by 48 per cent in the two years to June, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s latest report, with significantly more incidents in 2022-23 compared to 2019.
Sydney’s inner southwest recorded a 36 per cent increase in retail theft, followed by the eastern suburbs, which spiked 34 per cent, and Parramatta, which saw the rate climb 18 per cent.
The report’s release follows a controversial announcement by Coles that it would introduce body cameras at its high-risk stores to fight back against a dramatic rise in shoplifting, which experts estimate costs the retail industry a stunning $9bn annually.
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said the supermarket giant had reported losses similar to those seen four years ago.
“In terms of what’s happening, it clearly is a global phenomenon,” Mr Banducci said.
“Stock loss for Woolworths every week runs between $22m to $25m … (or) more than a billion dollars of loss on an annual basis.”
The losses come as some retailers in the UK and US have begun locking up common household staples like milk and cheese to fight theft amid the cost-of-living crisis.
“We do see it in many of the retailers we talk to in most other huge countries. So it has come back across the globe, and it (the growth in shoplifting) is true across all of the businesses in the (Woolworths) Group,” Mr Banducci said.
A Woolworths Group spokesman said it used both covert and overt initiatives to help “reduce the rise in retail crime and customer aggression we’re seeing”.
The data showed retail theft had now returned to pre-pandemic levels across Greater Sydney and Regional NSW.
Western Sydney University researcher Andy Marks said spikes in reported retail theft in more affluent areas like Sydney’s eastern suburbs were more likely to reflect increased monitoring measures by retailers “contending with lower sales figures”.
Mr Marks said the overall trend showed a decline in retail theft over the longer term, thanks to Australia’s comparatively low unemployment rate in the face of high inflation.
“People are facing cost-of-living pressures, but levels of employment remain relatively high,” he said.
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