$2.6 billion hit: Retail NZ highlights rising crime, under-reporting in new report

Retail crime is being severely under-reported, with roughly 40% of incidents not being reported to the police.

A new report from Retail NZ has revealed the state of retail crime in New Zealand, with 99% of its membership experiencing some form of crime or anti-social behaviour in 2023-2024, up from 93% the year prior.

The COMS Retail Crime Report 2024 details the extent of New Zealand’s retail crime problem, highlighting the breadth of issues and under-reporting that continues to occur.

Ranging from credit-card fraud and shoplifting, to threatening behaviour, criminal damage or physical assault, Retail NZ’s membership recorded 140,746 incidents of retail crime over the stated period.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said it is a serious health and safety issue for all retail employers, but also a handbrake on the economy.

“Every day, retailers are dealing with threatening, violent or simply unpleasant customers, who are trying to steal or damage their property.

“Almost every retail worker has been affected by crime and aggression which is traumatic for those directly involved and their colleagues,” Young said.

“Our 2023 Retail Crime Report found that the cost of retail crime is around $2.6 billion a year. This cost flows through from retailers to customers to the New Zealand economy, and so is a major brake on the retail sector’s contribution to economic growth.

“In this latest survey, we focused on identifying the actual level of retail crime in New Zealand, confirming that it is much higher than official statistics show.”

Carolyn Young, CEO of Retail NZ, urged retailers to report any offences to police no matter the scale.

Using police data from only retail locations for the year ending June 30, 2024, reported theft from retail premises was up 25.3% to 78,693 incidents compared to 62,794 incidents from the year prior.

Likewise, pick-pocketing and other theft not from stores specifically was up 1.5%.

Reported physical violence/assault at retail locations increased by 2.6% to 4122 incidents, roughly 343 incidents per month.

The categories to see a decline in reports included aggravated robbery (down 10.9%), non-aggravated robbery (down 23.1%) and burglary incidents (down 15.8%).

Perhaps the biggest revelation from the report is the extent of under-reporting. Only 61% of all incidents were reported to police, severely understating the level of crime shared in police data.

Young strongly recommended retailers report incidents no matter the scale of offending.

“This is essential to enable police to track the full extent of retail crime, ensure that they can assign appropriate resources and keep track of repeat offenders.”

“Full reporting also enables policy-makers and government to see the full scale of retail crime, and implement appropriate policies and support to the sector.”

A high percentage of violence and shoplifting was reported to police by retailers, but only 60% of aggressive behaviour incidents and 65% of robberies were reported.

Only 54% of criminal damage incidents were reported, with roughly 0% of cyber attacks referred to police despite being the fourth highest retail crime in volume.

As for why retailers were choosing not to report incidents to police, a number of reasons were cited, including that the effort wasn’t worth it for low-value items, or they realised too late that stock had been stolen.

Other reasons included that they dealt with the offending directly and did not need police, but some didn’t believe police would respond or take any action against the offenders.

Respondents also indicated they wanted to see the justice system prosecute more offenders and give sentences that reflected how much retail crime impacts those affected.

The Herald contacted the Minister for Police Mark Mitchell for comment.

Retail NZ has been a strong advocate for the use of technology to combat retail crime, particularly facial recognition technology (FRT).

As a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group for the victims of retail crime, Young advocated for wider FRT adoption following Foodstuffs North Island’s successful trial of the technology.

However, the advisory group and Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith instead chose to amend the Crimes Act 1961 to allow retailers, security guards or members of the public to detain alleged offenders, and to use restraints.

“As part of Retail NZ’s efforts to combat retail crime, we have been exploring whether extending powers of detention beyond police would be a solution. The great majority of members we have consulted have made it clear that only police should have powers to detain offenders.

“We understand that all retailers are frustrated with the level of crime in their stores. However, we believe that preventative measures, alongside the ability to recover goods and effective trespass laws will be more effective and safer for workers.”

Police have also continued rolling out new Community Beat Teams in cities and towns across Aotearoa New Zealand, and stronger sentencing legislation has been enacted.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.