Theft cut at a cost of £4.5bn

European retailers have slashed shrinkage by 5 per cent - but only by investing in expensive new security technologies.

The third European Retail Theft Barometer reveals that retailers have invested£4.46 billion in systems such as Electronic Article Surveillance and CCTV over the past year to tackle the problem.

The majority of the 436 retailers surveyed had taken the initiative as they believe the criminal justice system is ineffective at tackling the problem and current sanctions fail to deter offenders.

The Checkpoint Systems-sponsored survey found that shrinkage, while down 5 per cent on last year overall, still accounted for 1.69 per cent of annual retail sales in Europe.