Wines, razors and pet food: Spanish businesses lose eight million euros a day due to theft

Wine, Iberian products, t-shirts, headphones, air fresheners and even pet food. They are some of the products that disappear the most from Spanish stores, which every day face losses of around eight million euros due to the so-called unknown loss, which includes theft, administrative errors and supplier fraud. A figure that amounts to 2,932 million euros per year, 4% more than the previous year, and equivalent to 1.1% of the sector's total turnover. This is reflected in the latest Barometer of Theft in Commercial Distribution, prepared by NIQ with the collaboration of Checkpoint Systems and the Association of Large Consumer Companies (AECOC).

The percentage thus repeats its highest level of the decade, after having represented 0.9% of turnover in 2022 and having fallen to 0.74% in 2023. Theft, which both small businesses and large stores face daily, accounts for 81% of these losses and, according to the report, has a direct impact on the profitability and competitiveness of companies, by reducing their investment and job creation capacity.

The list of the most stolen foods is headed by wines and liquors, followed by sliced ​​Iberian meats and chocolates. Preserves and oil close the top 5, after two years at the top of the ranking, to which the sharp rise in their price in supermarkets had led them.

In personal care and beauty, the star product is razors, ahead of body care and makeup, while fragrances and sunscreens leave the podium. In electronics, headphones rule, followed by mobile accessories and video games, and chargers and smart watches gain ground. In fashion, the most stolen things are t-shirts and shirts, footwear and underwear.

The big news in the report is pet food, especially wet food, the theft of which has grown at the rate of the increase in households with animals. This is followed by antiparasitics, feed and hygiene products.

Behind these thefts are, above all, the customers themselves, responsible for 63% of the losses, compared to the 18% attributed to store staff. That is why self-checkouts, where the customer himself passes the products, have become one of the most vulnerable points. Two out of every three businesses (67%) claim that more people steal from them than those served by a cashier, and 46% already invest additional resources to monitor them.

Many of these thefts are not occasional either. Almost half (48%) are committed by repeat offenders, that is, people who steal three or more times a year from establishments, and 46% are attributed to organized gangs who, according to Checkpoint Systems, steal high-value products to resell them in parallel markets. By age, those under 30 years old account for 52% of the cases (13% minors), compared to 32% of adults between 31 and 50 years old and 15% of those over 50.

Added to this is an increasingly tense climate in the stores. 79% of businesses report that verbal or physical aggression against staff has increased, and 78% warn that it is increasingly difficult to find security guards, largely due to this escalation.