Industry advocate Retail NZ has called for a crackdown on criminals targeting retailers in New Zealand following the release of a concerning new study.
Retail NZ has published its ‘Crime Position Statement’, outlining an estimated loss of $NZ2.5 billion for retailers each year due to criminal activity.
The study found that 92 per cent of retailers have been victimised by criminals in the past 12 months.
CEO Carolyn Young said organised crime groups are stealing to order, while others are looking for notoriety on social media.
“We can no longer stand by and watch a small section in our society destroy the livelihoods of the families who literally put their lives on the line to build their retail business.”
“Retailers are more often dealing with threatening, violent or just unpleasant customers, trying to steal or damage their property.”
She added: “What makes it worse is that most of them think they can get away with it, treat retail workers like second-class citizens and have no understanding of how their actions impact the staff and the business.”
Retail NZ has called on the government to install effective mechanisms to prevent crime, create fines for petty offences, and establish specific offences against retail workers.
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