File photo. Police at the scene of a ram raid in Takanini, Auckland, in 2022. Photo: RNZ / Mohammad Alafeshat
Retail NZ says almost all retailers who responded to its latest survey had experienced crime towards their business in the last year.
It found 92 percent of respondents had experienced crime in the year to August up from 81 percent in the 2017 survey.
The survey heard from 297 retailers and found shoplifting was the most prevalent crime, with 82 percent of retailers affected, while 61 percent had had threatening behaviour towards staff or customers.
Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said retail crime was the worst it had ever been and it was taking a toll.
"We have families who own local stores who are really worried about the safety of their teams and their customers.
"Repeat offenders commit over a third of all reported retail crime, we have to acknowledge the issue is real and look at every possible tool and technology available to help solve it."
Retail NZ estimated the cost of the crime at $2.6 billion for the year to August 2023, while losses from stolen goods increased to $1.35b from just over $1b in 2017.
More than half of respondents expected those numbers to get worse over the next 12 months.
Respondents said the full cost was more than losing stock - it has an impact on the wellbeing of employees.
Retail NZ estimated businesses were spending $73m in crime-related wellbeing including employee training, employee assistance programmes or counselling for those affected by crime.
Retailers were also having to make significant investment on responding to crime and loss prevention, such as in security cameras, fog cannons, dedicated loss prevention personnel insurance and repairing damage to property.
It estimated the direct cost of crime and loss prevention to be $1.138m.
According to the survey 92 percent of robberies and 78 percent of physical violence were reported to police, but shoplifting and fraud was under-reported.
Just under half of shoplifting and only around a third of fraud including credit or debit cards were reported to police.
It cited police figures showing ram raid numbers increasing more than sixfold since 2018, and 760 ram raids in the year to August 2023.