The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) is teaming up with the National Retail Federation (NRF) and eBay to tackle the growing problem of organized retail crime.
The partnership supports a multi-tiered approach to organized crime. The groups have agreed to:
- Bring together a core group of FMI retail members and representatives of eBay on a regular basis to discuss organized retail crime, identify best practices in prevention, and take steps to eradicate the criminal activity.
- Leverage new technology, including LERPnet and eBay's PROACT programs, to further assist law enforcement in identifying and tracking organized retail crime rings.
- Collaborate with the FBI to help identify crime rings that have been responsible for stealing merchandise in bulk.
- Work together on legislation to enhance Federal law enforcement resources to combat organized retail crime and punish major offenders through enhanced criminal penalties.
Organized retail crime (ORC) has long been a challenging issue for both retailers and secondary marketplaces. Nearly two-thirds of supermarkets say they have seen an increase in the amount of ORC activity, according to FMI's Supermarket Security and Loss Prevention 2009 report. The survey found that 78 percent of grocery stores say they are allocating more resources to combat ORC.
