Retailers including the likes of JB Hi Fi, Harvey Norman and The Good Guys are moving to ramp up security measures with leading brand products being locked up to minimise losses that often occurs when consumers face cost of living pressures due in part to inflation issues.

Boxes instead of products are replacing some leading brands products on shelves and in some cases, products are being locked up in glass cases to prevent theft with consumers asked to go to a service counter or engage with a member of staff.

The issue is not isolated to Australia with consumer electronics retailers in both the UK and the USA where inflation is worse than Australia locking away products to prevent theft which has risen in recent weeks.

At one leading Best Buy store in the USA hundreds of items including Bose speakers and Fitbit activity trackers have been replaced by small blue signs that read, “This product is now kept in secured location,” with shoppers urged to contact staff.

In the USA theft has become a retailer’s worse nightmare with more than A$100 billion dollars’ worth of products stolen from retailers in 2020, according to the most recent data from the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

According to the Australian Retailers Association, retail theft forms part of the largest crime category in Australia, costing the retail sector more than $7.5 billion each year.

Now due to inflation issues retailers are facing ever increasing challenges and losses due to theft (external and internal) claim retail analysts.

It’s also been reported that less than 20% of retail crimes are not reported to Police according to the National Retailers Association.

The uplift in theft in times of hardship is becoming an endemic challenge for retailers, how to stop theft without shrinking profits or inconveniencing shoppers is also an issue.

The Wall Street Journal recently claimed that any large retailers, including Home Depot which is the equivalent of Bunnings in Australia, have been locking up more items while testing other solutions. They track high-risk goods and lock up items in regions or stores being hit hardest, retail executives say.

It is a tactic that risks annoying customers and investors. In July, a Best Buy analyst recommended selling the company’s stock after he observed conditions in dozens of stores and found items locked up or missing from shelves.

“Putting products in cages certainly deters theft, but it probably hinders sales,” said R5 Capital CEO Scott Mushkin in a new retail risk report titled “Heartbreaking.”

Retailers claim that theft surged after stores reopened early in the pandemic, retail industry executives say.

According to Police sources some criminals are stealing from retailers and then selling the stolen goods online via marketplaces and the likes of eBay.

Another problem is that many retail stores in Australia are understaffed and are struggling to find security staff to monitor stores similar to what JB Hi Fi undertakes.

The WSJ claim that today many retailers use a risk algorithm to determine which items to lock up and in what locations.

A high-value item that is frequently stolen is a good candidate, say executives. Retailers often try other deterrents first, like moving a product closer to staffed registers, attaching an alarm that is removed at checkout or using more visible security staff.

Home Depot has been locking up more products during the past 12 months as a stopgap while testing more customer-friendly, higher-tech solutions, according to the company.

“It’s a triage-type scenario. It’s stopped the bleeding and give yourself some time,” said Scott Glenn, vice president of asset protection at Home Depot.

He admits that theft rates are rising due to inflation pressures.