Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Grocery store theft is on the rise, driven in part by economic pressures and inflation. A recent LendingTree survey found that 23% of Americans have shoplifted, with 90% of recent offenders citing rising prices as their motivation. Shockingly, nearly half of shoplifters admitted grocery stores were their easiest targets, with food and nonalcoholic drinks being the most commonly stolen items. As theft continues to impact profit margins, grocers are facing growing challenges to protect their inventory and their bottom line.
This article explores the surprising statistics behind grocery store theft, what’s motivating offenders, and actionable steps stores can take to prevent it.
This article explores the surprising statistics behind grocery store theft, what’s motivating offenders, and actionable steps stores can take to prevent it.
Connect video to sales data – stop theft and spot trends faster
Why grocery store theft is on the rise
Grocery store theft has become a growing problem, driven largely by inflation and economic challenges. Rising prices have made daily essentials unaffordable for many, pushing some to resort to theft to make ends meet. Nearly half of shoplifters target grocery stores because they are seen as easy places to steal from, with items like food and nonalcoholic drinks being the most common targets.
The financial strain isn’t the only factor contributing to this surge. Essentials like food are small, high-demand items that are easy to conceal, making them attractive to shoplifters. At the same time, organized retail theft has become more common, targeting grocery stores for higher-value products like alcohol, meat, and over-the-counter medicine.
This increase in theft puts significant strain on grocery stores, which already operate on thin profit margins. With theft eating into these profits, stores face challenges like raising prices, increasing security costs, and maintaining customer trust. Addressing these challenges requires a proactive, multi-layered approach to prevent losses and protect the bottom line.
The financial strain isn’t the only factor contributing to this surge. Essentials like food are small, high-demand items that are easy to conceal, making them attractive to shoplifters. At the same time, organized retail theft has become more common, targeting grocery stores for higher-value products like alcohol, meat, and over-the-counter medicine.
This increase in theft puts significant strain on grocery stores, which already operate on thin profit margins. With theft eating into these profits, stores face challenges like raising prices, increasing security costs, and maintaining customer trust. Addressing these challenges requires a proactive, multi-layered approach to prevent losses and protect the bottom line.
What are the most common items stolen from grocery stores?
Grocery store theft often targets specific types of merchandise, with thieves focusing on items that are small, valuable, and easy to conceal. Some of the most commonly stolen products include:
Baby formula: Despite its bulk, baby formula is frequently stolen due to its high resale value and constant demand. The black market for baby formula is surprisingly lucrative, making it a top target for thieves.
Meat and seafood: Expensive cuts of meat and fresh seafood are prime targets, especially for organized retail crime rings. These items are often resold to restaurants or black market suppliers, despite their storage and transportation challenges.
Cheese: Studies show that cheese is the most stolen food item globally, with 4% of cheese disappearing from store shelves. Rising prices and high demand make it an attractive target, especially for thieves aiming to resell.
Alcohol: Liquor and imported wines are among the most expensive grocery items, making them highly desirable to shoplifters. Thieves often target top-shelf brands and bottles with strong name recognition, which are easier to resell.
Cosmetics: Small, lightweight, and high in value, cosmetics are commonly stolen from grocery stores. Their portability and wide availability make them an easy grab for opportunistic shoplifters.
Over-the-counter medicine: Medications like ibuprofen, antihistamines, and diet supplements are often stolen due to their strong brand recognition and high resale value on the gray market.
Frozen foods: While it may seem surprising, frozen items are also common targets. Thieves take advantage of special adhesives on packaging designed to withstand extreme temperatures, making it easier to hide these products without detection.
These high-theft items not only disrupt inventory but also put a significant dent in profit margins, especially for stores already operating on slim financial margins. Identifying and securing these vulnerable products is essential for combating grocery store theft effectively.
Baby formula: Despite its bulk, baby formula is frequently stolen due to its high resale value and constant demand. The black market for baby formula is surprisingly lucrative, making it a top target for thieves.
Meat and seafood: Expensive cuts of meat and fresh seafood are prime targets, especially for organized retail crime rings. These items are often resold to restaurants or black market suppliers, despite their storage and transportation challenges.
Cheese: Studies show that cheese is the most stolen food item globally, with 4% of cheese disappearing from store shelves. Rising prices and high demand make it an attractive target, especially for thieves aiming to resell.
Alcohol: Liquor and imported wines are among the most expensive grocery items, making them highly desirable to shoplifters. Thieves often target top-shelf brands and bottles with strong name recognition, which are easier to resell.
Cosmetics: Small, lightweight, and high in value, cosmetics are commonly stolen from grocery stores. Their portability and wide availability make them an easy grab for opportunistic shoplifters.
Over-the-counter medicine: Medications like ibuprofen, antihistamines, and diet supplements are often stolen due to their strong brand recognition and high resale value on the gray market.
Frozen foods: While it may seem surprising, frozen items are also common targets. Thieves take advantage of special adhesives on packaging designed to withstand extreme temperatures, making it easier to hide these products without detection.
These high-theft items not only disrupt inventory but also put a significant dent in profit margins, especially for stores already operating on slim financial margins. Identifying and securing these vulnerable products is essential for combating grocery store theft effectively.
Defending against grocery store theft
Preventing grocery store theft requires a combination of technology, smart store design, and well-trained staff. Below are actionable strategies to protect your inventory and bottom line.
Additionally, staff stationed in these areas can quickly identify and respond to suspicious behavior. Combining their presence with strategically placed security cameras provides an added layer of protection, ensuring these high-risk sections are closely monitored at all times.
Self-checkout areas are another hotspot for theft, as they offer opportunities for items to go unscanned or under-rung. Placing staff nearby to monitor these stations and assist customers ensures smoother transactions and reduces theft. Their presence, combined with weight sensors and cameras, creates a secure and efficient environment for shoppers.
Overhead views at entrances: Position cameras not only at eye level but also directly overhead at entrances and exits. This ensures clear visibility of anyone wearing hats, hoodies, or masks that obscure their face, capturing additional angles to aid identification.
Blind spots and low-traffic areas: Thieves often exploit blind spots and quieter sections of the store, such as corners, restocking areas, or poorly lit aisles. Conduct a walk-through to identify these gaps and ensure they’re covered by your cameras.
Cash counting areas: Monitor cash-handling stations where registers are reconciled or cash is counted. Employee theft often occurs in these back-of-house areas, and targeted coverage ensures accountability.
Storage and loading docks: Stock theft doesn’t just happen in the aisles. Ensure cameras are monitoring loading docks, storage areas, and walk-in freezers to prevent theft by employees or delivery personnel.
Parking lots and entrances: External cameras aren’t just for capturing license plates. Parking lots are often used by thieves to organize stolen items or regroup after shoplifting. Cameras covering the store’s exterior can act as an early warning system.
High ceilings for self-checkout: While standard overhead cameras are common, placing cameras at high angles above self-checkout stations provides a bird’s-eye view. This ensures you can monitor both scanning and bagging areas to catch missed or skipped items.
Dynamic placement: Use mobile or repositionable cameras in high-theft aisles. Thieves are less likely to target areas with visible security, and rotating camera placement keeps them guessing.
Dual-lens or 360-degree cameras: Invest in advanced cameras with dual-lens or panoramic views. These can cover more ground with fewer devices, reducing blind spots and offering better visibility in large grocery aisles or open spaces.
By thinking beyond traditional placements and optimizing for overlooked areas, your store’s security system can provide comprehensive protection against theft, both internal and external.
Video wall: Solink’s video wall feature provides a centralized, real-time view of multiple camera feeds, allowing you to monitor high-risk areas like self-checkout lanes, alcohol aisles, and entrances all at once. This tool ensures your team stays informed and can respond to incidents quickly, improving overall store security.
Camera health check: A downed or malfunctioning camera creates blind spots and vulnerabilities. Solink’s camera health check tool notifies you immediately if a camera is offline, misaligned, or obstructed, ensuring your security system is always operating at full capacity.
POS tracking/camera footage pairing: Solink links POS data directly to your video footage, giving you the ability to instantly review any transaction. Whether it’s a suspicious void, refund, or inventory discrepancy, you can quickly pull up the corresponding video and pinpoint the issue, saving time and reducing losses.
Remote monitoring: Solink’s remote monitoring lets you keep an eye on your store from anywhere. Whether you’re at home or managing multiple locations, you can review live feeds, investigate incidents, or check camera health directly from your phone or computer, ensuring peace of mind no matter where you are.
People Analytics: For grocery stores facing persistent theft in specific areas, Solink’s advanced people analytics features offer a powerful, AI-driven solution. These tools provide actionable insights into customer and employee behavior, helping you monitor high-risk sections more effectively.
Security or staff in high value areas
A visible presence in high-theft zones makes it harder for shoplifters to act unnoticed. Thieves are less likely to target areas where they know they’re being watched, especially by attentive employees who offer assistance or greet shoppers. This friendly interaction not only discourages theft but also enhances the customer experience for honest shoppers.Additionally, staff stationed in these areas can quickly identify and respond to suspicious behavior. Combining their presence with strategically placed security cameras provides an added layer of protection, ensuring these high-risk sections are closely monitored at all times.
Self-checkout areas are another hotspot for theft, as they offer opportunities for items to go unscanned or under-rung. Placing staff nearby to monitor these stations and assist customers ensures smoother transactions and reduces theft. Their presence, combined with weight sensors and cameras, creates a secure and efficient environment for shoppers.
Security camera placement
To truly maximize your security camera system, it’s important to think beyond the standard placements. Here are some advanced and often overlooked tips for security camera placement in grocery stores:Overhead views at entrances: Position cameras not only at eye level but also directly overhead at entrances and exits. This ensures clear visibility of anyone wearing hats, hoodies, or masks that obscure their face, capturing additional angles to aid identification.
Blind spots and low-traffic areas: Thieves often exploit blind spots and quieter sections of the store, such as corners, restocking areas, or poorly lit aisles. Conduct a walk-through to identify these gaps and ensure they’re covered by your cameras.
Cash counting areas: Monitor cash-handling stations where registers are reconciled or cash is counted. Employee theft often occurs in these back-of-house areas, and targeted coverage ensures accountability.
Storage and loading docks: Stock theft doesn’t just happen in the aisles. Ensure cameras are monitoring loading docks, storage areas, and walk-in freezers to prevent theft by employees or delivery personnel.
Parking lots and entrances: External cameras aren’t just for capturing license plates. Parking lots are often used by thieves to organize stolen items or regroup after shoplifting. Cameras covering the store’s exterior can act as an early warning system.
High ceilings for self-checkout: While standard overhead cameras are common, placing cameras at high angles above self-checkout stations provides a bird’s-eye view. This ensures you can monitor both scanning and bagging areas to catch missed or skipped items.
Dynamic placement: Use mobile or repositionable cameras in high-theft aisles. Thieves are less likely to target areas with visible security, and rotating camera placement keeps them guessing.
Dual-lens or 360-degree cameras: Invest in advanced cameras with dual-lens or panoramic views. These can cover more ground with fewer devices, reducing blind spots and offering better visibility in large grocery aisles or open spaces.
By thinking beyond traditional placements and optimizing for overlooked areas, your store’s security system can provide comprehensive protection against theft, both internal and external.
Having the best video management software
A video system is only as good as the tools you use to manage it. Solink’s video management software goes beyond basic security, combining your camera footage with POS data to give you actionable insights. Here are a few must-have features:Video wall: Solink’s video wall feature provides a centralized, real-time view of multiple camera feeds, allowing you to monitor high-risk areas like self-checkout lanes, alcohol aisles, and entrances all at once. This tool ensures your team stays informed and can respond to incidents quickly, improving overall store security.
Camera health check: A downed or malfunctioning camera creates blind spots and vulnerabilities. Solink’s camera health check tool notifies you immediately if a camera is offline, misaligned, or obstructed, ensuring your security system is always operating at full capacity.
POS tracking/camera footage pairing: Solink links POS data directly to your video footage, giving you the ability to instantly review any transaction. Whether it’s a suspicious void, refund, or inventory discrepancy, you can quickly pull up the corresponding video and pinpoint the issue, saving time and reducing losses.
Remote monitoring: Solink’s remote monitoring lets you keep an eye on your store from anywhere. Whether you’re at home or managing multiple locations, you can review live feeds, investigate incidents, or check camera health directly from your phone or computer, ensuring peace of mind no matter where you are.
People Analytics: For grocery stores facing persistent theft in specific areas, Solink’s advanced people analytics features offer a powerful, AI-driven solution. These tools provide actionable insights into customer and employee behavior, helping you monitor high-risk sections more effectively.
- People motion alerts: Solink’s AI tracks unusual patterns of movement, such as lingering in high-theft areas or repeated trips to sensitive sections like alcohol aisles. If suspicious activity is detected, the system sends instant alerts so staff can take immediate action.
- Line crossing: This feature sets virtual boundaries in key areas, such as stockrooms or restricted sections. When someone crosses the line, Solink generates an alert, allowing you to address potential security breaches in real time.
- Zone tracking: Monitor specific “hot zones” in your store, like the liquor aisle or cosmetics section, where theft is most likely to occur. Zone tracking tracks the frequency and duration of activity in these areas, giving you valuable data to adjust staffing, security, or store layout.
Handle grocery store theft better if and after it happens
Even with strong preventative measures, theft can still occur. When it does, having the right tools to quickly address and resolve incidents is essential. Solink’s features like motion search and secure save and search ensure that you can efficiently manage theft after it happens and prevent it from becoming a recurring issue.
Motion search: Finding footage of a theft can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially in a busy grocery store. Solink’s motion search simplifies this process by allowing you to filter video footage based on movement in specific areas. For example, if a theft occurred in the alcohol aisle at a certain time, you can quickly locate and review the relevant clips, saving hours of manual searching.
Secure save and search: When theft incidents require further investigation or legal action, it’s critical to preserve and share video evidence securely. Solink’s secure save and search feature ensures that your video clips are stored safely and easily accessible when needed. This protects the integrity of your evidence and simplifies collaboration with law enforcement or insurance providers.
By using Solink’s advanced tools, grocery stores can handle theft incidents more efficiently, ensuring swift resolutions, minimizing future losses, and maintaining a secure shopping environment for customers and staff.
Motion search: Finding footage of a theft can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially in a busy grocery store. Solink’s motion search simplifies this process by allowing you to filter video footage based on movement in specific areas. For example, if a theft occurred in the alcohol aisle at a certain time, you can quickly locate and review the relevant clips, saving hours of manual searching.
Secure save and search: When theft incidents require further investigation or legal action, it’s critical to preserve and share video evidence securely. Solink’s secure save and search feature ensures that your video clips are stored safely and easily accessible when needed. This protects the integrity of your evidence and simplifies collaboration with law enforcement or insurance providers.
By using Solink’s advanced tools, grocery stores can handle theft incidents more efficiently, ensuring swift resolutions, minimizing future losses, and maintaining a secure shopping environment for customers and staff.
Handle grocery store theft the best way possible
Theft doesn’t just hurt your profits—it impacts your team, your customers, and your ability to grow your business. With Solink, you can prevent losses before they happen and respond swiftly when they do. From linking POS data with video footage to advanced tools like motion search, people analytics, and secure save and search, Solink empowers grocery stores to protect their inventory and improve operations.
Ready to see how Solink can transform the way you handle theft? Schedule a demo today and discover how easy it is to safeguard your store and your bottom line.
Ready to see how Solink can transform the way you handle theft? Schedule a demo today and discover how easy it is to safeguard your store and your bottom line.
Book a demo to learn more about how Solink’s AI can help you stay ahead of security threats.
Schedule a product demo with our experts
