In response to the mention of chain stores that had recently gone into administration,, Sheppard said ORC was not the sole reason such companies were folding but"it's certainly a factor" in their collapse.
"Covid caused a significant spike in ORC in the U.S., and not necessarily for the reasons you may think as far as people being out of work," he explained."A lot of customers that would normally never shop online, were forced to shop online, because they wouldn't leave their house...or they wanted something that wasn't non-essential."
He said ORC had been"steadily increasing prior to that," but that a"perfect storm" of online demand and concerns over liability for injuries sustained during shoplifting encounters had made it go"off the rails." "Your return on investment for being a shoplifter—especially a professional shoplifter who does it all the time—is way more lucrative than it used to be," Sheppard said."It's much easier to resell the product, and the profit margin you're getting per item has just skyrocketed because of online platforms."