Retail Group Retracts Misleading Claim on Organized Retail Crime Losses
The National Retail Federation (NRF), a leading retail lobbying group, has retracted a key claim about inventory losses after an investigation revealed its inaccuracy. The NRF had published a report stating that nearly half of the estimated $94.5 billion lost to shrink in 2021 was attributable to organized retail crime (ORC), contradicting its own annual shrink survey. The retraction highlights the difficulty in accurately measuring the impact and source of inventory losses in the retail industry. The NRF acknowledges the challenges in gathering and analyzing data on theft but emphasizes that organized retail crime remains a serious problem. The incident raises skepticism about the reliability of industry data and reinforces the need for accurate information to inform policy decisions.