Best Buy CEO: Jump in theft is traumatizing staff
New York (CNN Business)Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said theft is a growing problem at the company's stores — and it is implementing added security measure to safeguard employees and shoppers.
"This is traumatizing for our associates and is unacceptable," Barry said on a call with analysts Tuesday. "We are doing everything we can to try to create an as safe as possible environment."
Barry said the company is implementing a number of tactics to minimize theft and protect staff and customers. For example, Best Buy is locking up more products and hiring security when appropriate.
Barry said organized retail crime is on the rise at Best Buy. The tactic involves an organized "gang" of people who steal entire shelves of high-value products, such as electronics, to resell them for a profit.
The crime surge is becoming such a problem that it is hitting Best Buy's (BBY) profits and could hurt its ability to retain and attract more employees in a tight labor market, Barry said in an interview Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Some incidents involved individuals bringing a weapon, such as a gun or crowbar, she said.
The retail industry is struggling to handle the escalation in organized retail theft. A 2020 survey of 61 retailers from the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade group, showed organized retail theft jumped nearly 60% from 2015 and cost stores an average of $719,548 per $1 billion dollars in sales.
Smash and grab on the rise
Barry's comments come on the heels of a string of retail thefts in San Francisco in just the last few days in which thieves targeted a Louis Vuitton store, a Burberry store, a jewelry store and Bloomingdale's and Walgreens locations.
On Saturday, a Nordstrom (JWN) department store near San Francisco was ransacked in what police described as a "smash-and-grab" incident.
Industry experts say store theft is now an acute problem and getting worse.
"While retailers have always suffered from general shoplifting there is a growing scourge of organized gangs which are stealing to order," said Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail.
"The gangs are much more dangerous for retailers and for customers shopping in stores," he said. "The problem is that while store security and associates can take individual shoplifters to task, they are not able to do much against gangs as they are outnumbered."
Saunders said its local communities that will ultimately suffer if this trend isn't reversed.
"If theft grows too bad, then retailers will simply pull out of certain locations, as we have already seen with some of the drugstores," he said.
百思买首席执行官：盗窃行为给员工造成了创伤
纽约（CNN 商业）百思买首席执行官 Corie Barry 表示，盗窃是该公司门店日益严重的问题——它正在实施额外的安全措施以保护员工和购物者的安全。
“这对我们的员工来说是一种创伤，是不可接受的，”巴里周二在与分析师的电话会议上说。 “我们正在尽一切努力创造一个尽可能安全的环境。”
Barry 表示，该公司正在实施多种策略，以最大限度地减少盗窃并保护员工和客户。例如，百思买会在适当的时候锁定更多产品并雇用安全人员。
巴里说，有组织的零售犯罪在百思买呈上升趋势。该策略涉及一个有组织的“团伙”，他们窃取整个货架上的高价值产品，例如电子产品，然后转售以获取利润。
巴里周二在接受 CNBC 的“Squawk on the Street”采访时表示，犯罪激增正在成为一个问题，以至于它正在打击百思买 (BBY) 的利润，并可能损害其在劳动力市场紧张的情况下留住和吸引更多员工的能力。
她说，一些事件涉及个人携带武器，例如枪或撬棍。
零售业正在努力应对有组织的零售盗窃升级。 2020 年对行业最大贸易组织美国零售联合会的 61 家零售商进行的一项调查显示，有组织的零售盗窃比 2015 年增加了近 60%，每 10 亿美元的销售额平均使商店损失 719,548 美元。
打砸抢上升
巴里的评论是在过去几天旧金山发生的一系列零售盗窃事件之后发表的，窃贼将目标锁定在路易威登商店、博柏利商店、珠宝店以及布鲁明代尔和沃尔格林的门店。
周六，旧金山附近的一家 Nordstrom (JWN) 百货公司遭到洗劫，警方称这是一起“砸抢”事件。
行业专家表示，商店盗窃现在是一个严重的问题，而且情况越来越严重。
GlobalData Retail 零售分析师兼董事总经理 Neil Saunders 表示：“虽然零售商一直遭受一般入店行窃之苦，但有组织的团伙却越来越多地按订单行窃。”
“对于零售商和在商店购物的顾客来说，这些帮派要危险得多，”他说。 “问题是，虽然商店保安和员工可以将个别的入店行窃者带走，但由于人数众多，他们无法打击团伙。”
桑德斯说，如果这种趋势不扭转，其当地社区最终将受到影响。
“如果盗窃变得太严重，那么零售商就会直接撤出某些地点，就像我们在一些药店看到的那样，”他说。
