The “markdown” represents the difference between the volumes ordered from suppliers and the actual inventory, which is lower due to customer and staff theft and breakage.
Target suggests a 120% increase
The retail giant Walmart, its competitor Target, the pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens – which also operate convenience stores –, the DIY chain Home Depot and the sports shoe distributor Foot Locker are among the many brands worrying the rise in theft, particularly with violence, and the impact on their finances.
“During the first five months of the year, our stores have seen a 120% increase in thefts accompanied by violence or threats of violence,” denounced Brian Cornell, boss of Target. “Our teams continue to experience an unacceptable amount of shoplifting and gang crime,” he noted, pointing to second-quarter markdown “well above what is sustainable on the market. long term”.
Interest rates have jumped from near zero to 5.50% in eighteen months – a highest in twenty-two years – to curb inflation which reached 9.1% in June 2022 (a record in four decades ), making the end of the month difficult for many Americans.
A recent column: Towards a slowdown in the American economy at the end of the year
A pandemic relic, too?
According to the latest National Retail Federation (NRF) survey, shrinkage reached $94.5 billion in 2021 ($90.8 billion in 2020). It identified a 26.5% jump in organized crime.
According to 88% of the distributors surveyed, “the pandemic has led to an increase in risks”, in particular attacks against customers and staff.
The walls multiply
Result: more and more stores are installing transparent walls with locks on the shelves – sometimes padlocked chains on the refrigerators – and scattering call buttons in the aisles for opening by staff. Unprotected shelves are often sparsely stocked, or even empty, to limit pilferage.
Measures not always dissuasive. A man, wearing a hood and a sanitary mask, melted with a blowtorch – in front of customers and employees – the plexiglass of a Walgreens in Queens, New York. He then quietly fills a large bag, according to a video published by several media. It is precisely in Queens that residents signed a petition complaining about the insecurity in several CVS.
Chains close some stores
According to several media, signs ask their staff not to intervene in the event of theft or to contact the police, for their safety. Some plan to close stores like the Giant supermarket chain in Washington, “where theft and violence are high and getting worse.” “It is more and more difficult to operate in these conditions,” a spokesperson told AFP, stressing that other settlements were concerned.
Walgreens closed five stores in San Francisco in 2021 because of thefts, and Walmart four in Chicago this year, officially due to lack of profitability.
“The markdown has increased this year. She had progressed last year. It’s uneven across the country,” said John Rainey, Walmart’s chief financial officer. “We don’t want it to go up because it could lead to higher prices.”
But Internet users are reporting more and more “Flash Robs”: a group breaks into a store, seizes within minutes of items within reach and flees. Like on August 12 at a Nordstrom chain store in Los Angeles, where about 30 masked people stole more than $300,000 worth of luxury items and sprayed the security guard with bear spray, police say. .
Another forum: Waiting for the American recession
2023-09-03 11:08:42
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