Shoplifter behavior explained

Shoplifting costs the Dutch retail shops hundreds of millions of euros each year.  PhD student Jeske Nederstigt developed a method to explain and even to influence the behavior of shoplifters.

Earlier research in 2009 showed that Dutch retailers lost about 325 million eurosdue to shoplifting. Retail loss prevention and the handling of shoplifting incidents (by police and insurance) are not even included. It means that a shop owner works one day in the week for nothing.

According to Nederstigt the scientific research approach on shoplifting has always been too fragmented. She argues for a more integrated approach. Retailers still make too little use of scientific knowledge. They lack understanding theft behavior or the efficiency of anti-theft measures.

For her survey the Tilburg University researcher used the ‘Triad Model’: a paradigm to explain the conduct of shoplifters, in which all decisive factors of shoplifting emerge. Nederstigt: “This new theoretical framework provides insight into why certain measures work or may not work. This way it can contribute to greater efficiency in the fight against shoplifting.” [TvN/tranls. YV]

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