Almost 4 billion euros had been disappeared in the German retail market, last year

Last year, 3.9 billion euros inventory shortage has been generated in the German retail market. Thieves are responsible for 2 billion euros, but the rest disappeared by the result of organizing errors or stolen by the staff.

The survey was made by the Scientific Research Institute of Retail in Cologne (EHI). The survey was covering a total of 12,500 shop, with a turnover of 57 billion euros. According to the survey the most popular products, which have been stolen are the small but valuable goods like tobacco, the elements of the razor blades. In fashion shops women's clothing and underwear brands of clothes are the most popular. The operators of the shops have spent an average of 0.3 percent of the revenue, a total of one billion euros for the protection of the shops in 2008. The state booked 400 million euros less tax revenue due to theft. According to the datas of the German Ministry of Home Affairs the number of reported shop theft decreased by 3.2 percent to 396 thousand in 2007. However according to the German Retail Association (HDE), there is a very high number of unreported cases and the rate of severe thefts committed by gangs, are increasing – reports Piac & Profit.