CEOs Call on Congress to Address Surge of Retail Crime
In a letter to Congressional leadership, 20 CEOs of leading retailers expressed urgent concern over the growing impact of organized retail crime on retail employees and communities across the U.S. The signatories representing apparel, electronics, health and beauty, home improvement, and general merchandise sectors implore lawmakers to pass the INFORM Consumers Act, legislation that will modernize our consumer protection laws to safeguard families and communities from the sale of illicit products. Retail leaders who signed the letter include:
- Ken Hicks, Academy Sports + Outdoors
- Corie Barry, Best Buy Co., Inc.
- Lauren Hobart, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc.
- Richard Johnson, Foot Locker, Inc.
- W. Rodney McMullen, The Kroger Co.
- Richard Keyes, Meijer, Inc.
- Erik B. Nordstrom, Nordstrom, Inc.
- Heyward Donigan, Rite Aid Corporation
- Brian C. Cornell, Target Corporation
- Steve Rendle, VF Corporation
- William Rhodes, AutoZone, Inc.
- Neela Montgomery, CVS Health
- Todd J. Vasos, Dollar General Corporation
- Craig Menear, The Home Depot, Inc.
- Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss & Co.
- Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Neiman Marcus, Inc.
- Ron Coughlin, Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
- Anthony T. Hucker, Southeast Grocers
- David Kimbell, Ulta Beauty, Inc.
- John Standley, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
- Brian Dodge, Retail Industry Leaders Association
Total Retail's Take: Organized retail crime (ORC) now costs retailers an average of $700,000 per $1 billion in sales, according to NRF’s 2020 Organized Retail Crime Survey. That criminal activity is taking place across multiple channels, online and offline, and its frequency is rising. More than two-thirds of retailers said the pandemic increased the overall risk for their organization, according to NRF’s 2021 National Retail Security Survey, and 57 percent indicated a rise in ORC.
In addition to seeking help at the federal level through consumer protection laws that will mitigate the sale of stolen goods, retailers are investing more resources, including technology and labor, to help prevent ORC. According to the NRF report, half of retailers are allocating additional technology resources to ORC prevention, while another 50 percent are allocating capital to specific loss prevention equipment.
