In 2025, German retailers lost goods worth €5.11 billion due to product differences, which is 3.2% more than in the previous year. This follows current research from trade institute EHI. Customers bring the largest share of losses. €3.05 billion worth of goods were lost due to shoplifting alone. In addition, there are losses due to dishonest employees in the amount of 910 million euros and losses from suppliers and service companies in the amount of 370 million euros. According to the study, the remaining €780 million is due to organizational shortcomings such as registration and accounting errors.
About a third of shoplifting is committed by organized and commercial crime. But daily theft by customers is also increasing. Experts attribute this to the current political situation and economic outlook, which is leading to an increase in opportunistic thefts. Additionally, from a retail perspective, “inadequate judicial practices and criminal prosecutions are contributing to the rise of these crimes.” More than 98% of all shoplifting goes undetected. Grocery stores and pharmacies are especially vulnerable to theft. Retailers are responding by increasing security spending. Costs for preventative measures such as product security, CCTV cameras, detective operations and training, stock control and data analysis amount to around €3.3 billion per year.
Although there is no specific data, theft is also a growing problem in the direct marketing industry. Particularly affected are self-service farm shops with trust tills or ATMs – places where thieves suspect they have cash. In practice, it is reported that such incidents are becoming more and more frequent. Material losses are one thing. For many direct marketers, underperformance and breach of trust are often more serious because their sales models rely on open access and honest customer behavior. Companies are responding differently, with some cutting back or eliminating self-service offerings, others accepting only cashless payments, and others investing more in technical security solutions such as access control.