The Australian Institute of Criminology has released data regarding the financial and psychological costs of crime for small retail businesses. The report states that those sectors with the greatest estimated losses were service stations (where the average loss to victims approximated $6,900 per year) and liquor stores (within which the average loss across all businesses in the sector was $4,000 per year). These sectors suffer the most because of the higher number of incidents they experience in each year, and because they are frequently victims of the more expensive crimes (burglary, robbery and shoplifting). The report also estimates that the total loss (direct and indirect) of crimes against the six retail sectors in 1998-99 amounted to approximately $170 million. The crimes which accounted for the majority of this total were burglary (35%), shoplifting (20%) and employee theft (18%).
Average (direct and indirect) dollar losses 1998-99 [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
- Taylor, N. & Mayhew, P. 2002, "Financial and Psychological Costs of Crime for Small Retail Businesses", Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 229, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.