Sale through without a bill

Shoplifters are a major worry for store owners this sale season

IT'S that time of the year again when it's raining discounts. Shop windows and hoardings around the town are screaming 'Sale'. Yet again we are going to spend our peanut salary over the merchandise on offer. But unlike most of us, some people will simply lift them up from the racks without paying a penny.


India tops the list when it comes to shoplifting

Sucking them dry
Stores across the country lose truckloads of moolah during end of season sales due to shoplifters who don't bother to pay for what they fancy. According to last year's Global Retail Theft Barometer, a survey conducted by Britain's Centre for Retail Research, India tops the list when it comes to retail theft, causing a 45.2 percent shrinkage (an industry term for loss) to the retail industry which amounts to a whopping $2.6 million.
This year too, storeowners claim the phenomenon has picked up since the sale season started. "We have already seen a 2-3 per cent loss since the sales began due to people opting to flick a product without paying," says Diwanshu Mittal, Business Development Manager of women's clothing brand Muah.

Easy catch
Lingerie, jewellery, video games, perfumes, designerwear, stationary, DVDs, shoes, alcohol or imported food itemsu00a0-- there is nothing on the shelf that shoplifters haven't laid their hands on. But the most commonly pinched items include cosmetics, perfumes, ladies apparel, designerwear, video games, DVDs and fashion accessories. "In my career of 15 years at different stores across the country, I have found small commodities like lipsticks, perfumes and jewellery are the most vulnerable items that are targeted," says Anuj Khanna, store
in-charge, Shahnaz Husain.

Reasons galore
Experts believe such offences spring out of mainly two reasons. An impulse control disorder could lead to kleptomania, where the offender can't control the urge to steal something whether he requires it or not. Or it could be intentional due to economic problems, an anti-social trait, low self-esteem arising out of a lack of affordability or susceptibility to the stimulating environment created by these products.

And many a myth is busted when it comes to profiling these lawbreakers. Women might prowl the shopping malls more but it is young men in their early 20s who top the list. "At that age there could be peer pressure or an urge to emulate their idols. Sometimes they resort to easy methods to reach such goals," says Dr Sameer Malhotra, head of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Fortis Hospital.

Interestingly, middle-aged women tend to shoplift more as opposed to younger ones. "A few days back I caught a group of middle-aged ladies who were planning to steal on the pretext of trying out an array of lip glosses and lipsticks. So it's not young girls but crafty middle-aged women we have to be wary of," says Shalini Nair, assistant boutique manager at an international cosmetic store in Select Citywalk Mall.u00a0 "Kleptomania could be one of the reasons at their age," adds Dr Malhotra.

What an idea!
When it comes to modus operandi, these lawbreakers can give even the most imaginative Bollywood scriptwriter a run for his money. People have been caught hiding trinkets in their underwear, socks, cuffs, collars, newspapers and inside their mouths and ears. Some have been caught trying to sneak out wearing five-six T-shirts until the security alarms rang out like orchestras. From long overcoats to burkhas to feigning a heart attack, veteran security guard Raghuvir Pandey has seen it all. "But the one that baffled me was a 50-year-old skinny woman pretending to be pregnant with all the stolen clothes," he says, laughing.u00a0

And though it is not a laughing matter, offenders can be fined or imprisoned for three years under section 43 of CRPC. Store owners agree it is a road less trodden. Nobody wants to get involved in a legal tangle once the good is recovered. It is much easier to install CCTV cameras, Hart Tax tags, lock merchandise and alert personnel. As Sanjay Sahani, MD, Ritu Wears puts it, "A stitch in time saves nine."