Abracadabra

Likely the single largest obstacle to retailer profitability comes in absorbing the cost of fraud. And the largest areas of fraud are caused by illegitimate returns and shoplifting.

Overall, total annual merchandise returns come to about $260.5 billion for retailers in the United States, according to NRF. But over 6% of that number is from people either abusing the return process or making fraudulent returns, accounting for nearly $16 billion in retailer losses. The numbers are even more dire during the holiday season when overall returns come in at 10% (about 2% higher than the rest of the year). About 3.5% of those returns end up being fraudulent, a $2.21 billion problem. Read More...