If our own industry proves resilient in times of recession it may do so against a background of hardship in the world economies at large. The Mole predicts that the niche areas of retail surveillance and item tagging will go through the roof during the rest of 2009 and beyond.
The research, which covers 36 countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, suggests that shoplifting across the region cost retailers $104,529 m. In the US, Canada and Australia, employee theft is now thought to be hurting firms more than shoplifting, a development that has led to the installation of covert camera/DVR combos in stock rooms and distribution centres, even by companies with a historical reluctance to face up to the fact that their own staff are stealing from them.
