Retail theft is measured through several different lenses: police-recorded shoplifting, business surveys of customer theft, retailer-reported shrink and broader workplace-violence data. The figures below keep those measures separate while showing the scale, trends, exposure and reported consequences in England and Wales and the United States.
Key Retail Theft Statistics
These highlights summarize the most useful figures across the different populations and measurement systems:
- In the year ending December 2024, police recorded 516,971 shoplifting offences in England and Wales.
- Between the year ending December 2023 and the year ending December 2024, police-recorded shoplifting rose 20% in England and Wales.
- In the year ending December 2024, 516,971 shoplifting offences were the highest level since the current recording series began in March 2003 in England and Wales.
- In the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey, 26% of wholesale and retail premises in England and Wales experienced customer theft during the previous 12 months.
- In the 2023 survey, 41% of wholesale and retail premises experienced any surveyed crime during the previous 12 months.
- In 2023, supermarkets had a 76% prevalence of theft by a customer in England and Wales.
- About 2.9 million theft incidents were estimated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales in the year ending December 2024.
- CSEW theft incidents increased 13%, from about 2.6 million to about 2.9 million, between the year ending December 2023 and the year ending December 2024.
- CSEW theft in the year ending December 2024 was 75% below the 11.6 million incidents recorded at the year ending December 1995 peak.
- The 2023 customer-theft prevalence for wholesale and retail premises was up from 20% in 2014 to 26% in 2023.
- In the United States, NRF participating retailers reported a 93% increase in average annual shoplifting incidents in 2023 compared with 2019.
- NRF participating U.S. retailers reported a 90% increase in dollar loss due to shoplifting in 2023 compared with 2019.
- NRF’s FY2022 survey reported an average shrink rate of 1.6% of sales among surveyed U.S. retailers.
- The NRF 2022 survey summary reported estimated nationwide shrink losses of $112.1 billion in the United States in 2022.
- Among all U.S. private-industry nonfatal workplace-violence cases in 2021–2022, 71.6% resulted in at least one day away from work.
- In 2022, about 24.6% of U.S. workplace homicide fatalities occurred while a worker was tending a retail establishment or waiting on customers.
Contents
- Key Retail Theft Statistics
- Retail Theft Statistics: The Scale of Shoplifting and Customer Theft
- Retail Theft Data Trends Before and After the Pandemic
- Retail Theft Statistics by Store Type and Business Exposure
- Retail Theft Costs, Shrink and Organized Retail Crime Measures
- Retail Theft, Violence and Reporting Outcomes
Retail Theft Statistics: The Scale of Shoplifting and Customer Theft
Police-recorded data and business surveys answer different questions. Police records count offences reported and recorded by authorities, while the Commercial Victimisation Survey asks premises whether they experienced specified crime during a reference period.
The Office for National Statistics recorded 516,971 shoplifting offences in England and Wales in the year ending December 2024. That was 20% higher than the year ending December 2023 and the highest figure since the current recording practices began in March 2003. Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024
The 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey found that 26% of wholesale and retail premises experienced customer theft in the previous 12 months. The survey also estimated that 41% experienced any CVS crime, a broader category than retail theft. Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey
| Measure | Population and period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Police-recorded shoplifting | England and Wales, year ending December 2024 | 516,971 offences |
| Customer theft | Wholesale and retail premises, 2023 CVS reference period | 26% of premises |
| Any surveyed crime | All business premises, 2023 CVS reference period | 409,000 premises, or 26% |
| Theft | All business premises, 2023 CVS reference period | 14% of premises |
The 409,000-premises estimate covers any surveyed crime among all business premises, not retail theft alone. Likewise, the 14% theft estimate for all businesses is broader than customer shoplifting and is self-reported by premises.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated about 2.9 million theft incidents in the year ending December 2024. This is a people- and household-based survey measure of total theft, not a retail-specific count; it rose 13% from about 2.6 million in the year ending December 2023.
Retail Theft Data Trends Before and After the Pandemic
Long-run comparisons need careful definitions because the CSEW theft series measures all theft and has a pandemic-related break for some annual estimates. Police-recorded shoplifting is a separate administrative series with its own reporting and recording influences.
The ONS reported that CSEW theft in the year ending December 2024 was 75% below its year ending March 1995 peak of 11.6 million incidents. It was also 11% below the 3.3 million incidents estimated for the year ending March 2020, so the recent increase in total survey theft did not restore the earlier level.
Other theft categories provide context but should not be relabeled as shoplifting:
- Theft from the person increased 50% to an estimated 483,000 CSEW incidents in the year ending December 2024.
- Theft from outside a dwelling increased 19% to 607,000 CSEW incidents in the year ending December 2024.
- Police recorded 1.8 million theft offences in England and Wales in the year ending December 2024, up 1% year over year.
- Police-recorded theft from the person rose 22% to 152,416 offences in the same period.
The same ONS release recorded decreases in other police categories: vehicle offences fell 7% to 364,208 and burglary fell 6% to 253,912 in the year ending December 2024. Burglary was 71% below its year ending March 2003 level, but neither measure is a retail-theft series. Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024
The CVS offers a business-facing trend. Customer-theft prevalence among wholesale and retail premises rose from 20% in 2014 to 26% in 2023, while the survey described overall crime prevalence as remaining around 40% over the past decade after a fall between 2012 and 2014.
Customer theft was reported at 26% in both the 2022 and 2023 estimates, which does not by itself establish that underlying incidents or losses were unchanged. Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey
Retail Theft Statistics by Store Type and Business Exposure
The 2023 CVS shows why store type matters. Wholesale and retail premises had a 26% customer-theft prevalence overall, but supermarkets reported a much higher 76% prevalence of theft by a customer.
| Premises or outcome | Period | Share or result |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail premises experiencing customer theft | 2023 CVS | 26% |
| Supermarkets experiencing theft by a customer | 2023 CVS | 76% |
| Supermarkets experiencing assaults or threats | 2023 CVS | 43% |
| Wholesale and retail premises experiencing any CVS crime | 2023 CVS | 41% |
The supermarket violence figure is a related business-risk measure rather than a theft measure. Across all business premises, customer theft was the offence reported to have the largest negative impact by 21% of premises, while assaults or threats were identified by 16%; these are perceived largest-impact responses, not monetary-loss calculations.
About two in five wholesale and retail premises experienced any CVS crime when 2022 and 2023 data were combined. That combined estimate is a composite crime measure and should not be read as the share experiencing customer theft specifically. Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey
Retail Theft Costs, Shrink and Organized Retail Crime Measures
U.S. retailer surveys provide cost and incident indicators, but they are not national administrative counts. The NRF 2024 study covered 164 mid-size and large retail brands representing $1.52 trillion in 2023 annual sales, or an estimated 30% of total U.S. retail sales.
NRF participating retailers reported that average annual shoplifting incidents were 93% higher in 2023 than in 2019. They also reported a 90% increase in dollar loss due to shoplifting over the same comparison, both based on participating retailer responses rather than an independently audited national estimate. The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024
Shrink is broader than theft: it can include losses from non-theft causes. NRF’s National Retail Security Survey reported an average shrink rate of 1.4% of sales in FY2021 and 1.6% in FY2022 among surveyed U.S. retailers, a reported increase of 0.2 percentage points.
The same 2022 survey summary reported estimated nationwide shrink losses of $112.1 billion in 2022 in the United States. That is an industry estimate for shrink, not a direct shoplifting-loss total, so it should not be used as a pure retail-theft figure. National Retail Security Survey 2023
| U.S. NRF measure | Period | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Average annual shoplifting incidents | 2023 versus 2019 | 93% increase |
| Dollar loss due to shoplifting | 2023 versus 2019 | 90% increase |
| Average shrink rate | FY2021 | 1.4% of sales |
| Average shrink rate | FY2022 | 1.6% of sales |
| Estimated nationwide shrink losses | 2022 | $112.1 billion |
The NRF figures describe participating brands and surveyed retailers. They should be compared with police or survey statistics only after accounting for the different geography, populations, definitions and periods.
Retail Theft, Violence and Reporting Outcomes
Retail theft and workplace violence overlap in some settings, but the available BLS figures are broader and do not estimate theft-caused violence. They provide context on the safety burden associated with workplaces and sales occupations in the United States.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 57,610 nonfatal workplace-violence cases requiring days away, restriction or transfer across U.S. private industry during 2021–2022. The annualized DART rate was 2.9 cases per 10,000 full-time-equivalent workers, and 71.6% of cases resulted in at least one day away from work. Workplace Violence 2021-2022
Among the 41,270 cases involving days away from work, the median was 7 days away. Cases requiring job transfer or restriction made up 28.4%, or 16,340 cases, with a median of 13 days under that status.
Sales and related occupations recorded 2,040 workplace-violence cases in 2021–2022, with 84.6% involving days away from work. This occupational group includes more than retail workers, and the violence was not necessarily related to theft.
Fatal workplace measures show the same scope limitation:
- U.S. workplaces recorded 524 homicide fatalities in 2022, up 8.9% from 481 in 2021.
- Gunshot wounds accounted for 435 fatalities, or 83.0% of workplace homicides, in 2022.
- About 24.6% of workplace homicide fatalities occurred while a worker was tending a retail establishment or waiting on customers in 2022.
- Among the 21 states with publishable 2022 data, California recorded 54 workplace homicide fatalities, Texas 48 and Georgia 33.
The retail-establishment setting does not establish that a homicide was caused by shoplifting or retail theft, and the state figures are counts rather than rates from an incomplete state set. Workplace Violence 2021-2022
Business reporting outcomes also require care. Among premises that experienced any CVS crime in 2023, 55% reported at least one crime to police; among reporting premises, 35% were satisfied with the police response and 41% were dissatisfied.
Among dissatisfied reporting premises, 63% said police never showed up or did nothing. These responses cover CVS crimes generally, not customer theft alone, and they measure reported perceptions rather than an administrative response-time statistic. Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey