Retail theft is a problem that has grown far beyond store security, as the retail supply chain is increasingly an appealing target for organized crime. According to CargoNet, there were 767 supply chain crime events in Q1 2026 alone, representing more than $131.58 million in estimated losses.[1] The report also notes that thieves are specifically targeting more items that are less bulky and easier to resell at scale, such as beauty and food and beverage products.
Policymakers have also taken notice of the rising theft and fraud in the supply chain. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) bill aims to establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center meant to more easily align law enforcement efforts at federal, state, local, and private-sector levels.
Reducing organized retail theft will require a multifaceted, industry-wide approach, but many of those facets rely on building a stronger foundation of supply chain data integrity. By tracking serialized products, retailers have more information to feed investigations, prosecute bad actors, and recover products so they can be returned to the rightful owners.
Retail theft is becoming a cross-functional supply chain challenge
Loss prevention teams are often the first to see the downstream effects of theft, but many underlying security gaps occur throughout the supply chain, in areas outside their purview. Thefts can occur at virtually any point: during pickups, at handoffs between partners, inside warehouses, when stores receive shipments, and through deceptive returns. Digital tools and AI are making it easier than ever for crime syndicates and individual bad actors alike to forge credentials and impersonate legitimate carriers or brokers.
“There’s an acceleration of theft events,” says Jonathan Gregory, senior director, global standards, at GS1 US. “Criminal networks are becoming more creative. There are ties between theft and counterfeiting and increases in violent crime. The networks that are doing the stealing are described as polycriminals, meaning they do multiple criminal activities. It’s becoming a larger pain point across the supply chain.”
The broad impact on the supply chain creates inventory loss, sales losses, brand erosion, counterfeiting risks, and more. These issues interfere with retailers’ ability to respond to disruptions and address customer expectations around authenticity.
As such, rising fraud and theft are forcing organizations to rethink how they protect their products and cargo. Supply chain integrity has moved from the purview of supply chain leaders alone to a cross-functional endeavor and a boardroom concern. To succeed in this new environment, loss prevention, logistics, retail operations, IT, legal, and external partners all require a shared view of product identities and cargo movements.
According to Gregory, the biggest gaps happen when companies make assumptions about cargo rather than validating shipments when they change hands.
“The verification gaps really demonstrate the need for cross-enterprise data sharing,” he says. “When you have content assumptions that are not validated whenever you change custody, that’s where the issues can happen. Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, technology lets you validate content as it flows through, so you can have smarter auditing mechanisms.”
To facilitate this level of validation, retailers and their partners need more than a SKU-level understanding of inventory. A Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) can identify what product is being sold or purchased, and batch or lot numbers can support recall and traceability needs. Serialization adds another layer by identifying items at the individual level, which can be especially useful for higher-risk products or supporting investigations.
Building a stronger data layer to support a multi-pronged response
RFID is an important capability within a broader supply chain security strategy. It can facilitate more collaborative security efforts between partners by capturing movement data at key checkpoints without slowing or stopping operations.
“RFID is a technology that gives you automated, precise information in a way that doesn’t have to impact processes,” says Gregory. “The value is found in the data and the ease of data collection — it’s very precise and highly reliable. Just knowing what was stolen and where it was last seen is essential for combatting cargo theft. Those are the capabilities that RFID simplifies.”
Better yet, that increased visibility supports other business goals besides theft prevention. Improved product- and shipment-level data can help to enhance inventory accuracy in warehouses and stores, shorten cycle count timelines, streamline reverse logistics, and optimize omnichannel fulfillment. When a retailer has a more accurate understanding of their available inventory, it can more confidently promise products for store-based fulfillment.
The key to all of this involves putting all partners on the same page. GS1’s Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) provides a standardized way for all stakeholders to capture and share event data, right down to which specific items were placed in a case, which cases were put onto a pallet, when that pallet was shipped, and where it was received. A recent innovation in the RFID standard now allows tagged items, such as logistic units, to point back to the shipper’s EPCIS database. This simplifies and automates data sharing, ultimately illuminating blind spots in the supply chain.
While standardization is not a substitute for law enforcement in the supply chain, a trusted, shared pool of interconnected data helps participating stakeholders answer important questions, such as:
- Does this shipment match its expected identity?
- Was it received at the right time and location?
- Did an item appear in a return or resale channel without a verified chain of custody?
- Is a discrepancy isolated, or does it fit a pattern across different stores, facilities, routes, or partners?
Importantly, the same level of control doesn’t need to be applied to every single product all at once. Retailers can leverage industry data to determine where the greatest need is. For example, CargoNet’s report showed that theft of personal care and beauty products jumped 178% year over year in Q1 2026. Another Q1 report on cargo theft from Overhaul shows that electronics account for 17% of theft incidents, food and drink for 15%, and clothing and shoes for 11%.[2]
This type of risk data can help retailers prioritize investments around their highest-risk handoffs. From there, retailers can map gaps in visibility or incomplete chain-of-custody data. Then, they can determine desired outcomes and track progress toward goals such as reducing unexplained exceptions, speeding up discrepancy investigations, or better verifying returns.
Securing the future of retail supply chains through better data
While CORCA and other policy discussions may continue to evolve, retailers don’t have to wait for legislation or mandates to strengthen the data foundations that support supply chain integrity.
Taking a standards-based approach to product identity, implementing RFID-enabled data capture, and incorporating shared event data can help retail organizations respond to theft more quickly and effectively and, in some cases, prevent it altogether. Beyond retail theft, these measures help retailers create a more accurate, connected, and resilient supply chain, ensuring they can weather whatever disruption comes next.
[1] “2026 First Quarter Supply Chain Risk Trends Analysis,” CargoNet, https://www.cargonet.com/news-and-events/cargonet-in-the-media/2026-q1-theactivitiest-trends/
[2] “United States Q1-2026 Cargo Theft Report,” Overhaul, https://www.over-haul.com/intelligence/us-cargo-theft-report
Facts Only
* 767 supply chain crime events occurred in Q1 2026.
* These events represented an estimated loss of $131.58 million.
* Thieves specifically target less bulky items, such as beauty and food and beverage products.
* The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) bill aims to establish a crime coordination center.
* Tracking serialized products provides information for investigations and product recovery.
* Loss prevention gaps occur across the supply chain, including pickups, handoffs, and warehouse operations.
* Criminal networks engage in multiple activities, described as polycriminals.
* RFID technology allows for automated, precise data capture of movement without stopping operations.
* GS1’s Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standard provides a method for stakeholders to share event data.
* The theft of personal care and beauty products increased by 178% year over year in Q1 2026.
* Electronics account for 17% of cargo theft incidents.
* Food and drink account for 15% of cargo theft incidents.
* Clothing and shoes account for 11% of cargo theft incidents.
Executive Summary
Retail theft has expanded into the supply chain, with organized crime targeting the retail flow for significant losses. Supply chain crime events totaled 767 in Q1 2026, resulting in an estimated loss of over $131.58 million. Thieves focus on less bulky items like beauty and food and beverage products for easier resale. Policymakers are addressing this through measures like the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) bill, which seeks to coordinate law enforcement across various sectors.
Reducing theft requires a collaborative, industry-wide approach centered on improving supply chain data integrity. Tracking serialized products provides necessary information for investigations and recovery efforts. The challenge is that theft occurs at numerous points—pickups, handoffs, warehouses, and returns—and digital tools are exploited by criminal networks.
The need for shared visibility necessitates moving beyond single-party concerns to a cross-functional endeavor involving loss prevention, logistics, IT, legal, and retail operations. Technologies like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can validate cargo movement precisely as it flows through the chain, and standards like GS1’s EPCIS facilitate data sharing across stakeholders. This interconnected data allows partners to verify identities and custody across transactions, helping to identify discrepancies and patterns of loss rather than just reacting to individual incidents.
Full Take
The narrative centers on a systemic failure rooted in fragmented data ownership across the supply chain, which allows criminal networks to exploit blind spots efficiently. The movement from isolated loss prevention concerns to a cross-functional mandate suggests that current operational structures are inherently insufficient for managing modern, complex logistics where digital impersonation is increasingly possible. The pivot toward solutions like serialization, RFID, and standardized data sharing (EPCIS) indicates a recognition that technical fixes alone are inadequate; the true leverage lies in establishing a shared reality among disparate entities.
The implication is that the responsibility for security and integrity has shifted from siloed operational teams to an enterprise-wide necessity, placing the burden on governance and infrastructure rather than just on frontline security measures. The specific focus on inventory data—SKU level versus batch numbers versus serialization—reveals a tension between high-level traceability needs (for investigations) and granular operational needs (for warehouse efficiency).
The pattern observed is a gradual evolution where technical capability (like RFID) meets organizational necessity (the need for shared trust). The system demands that technological advancements must be paired with standardized protocols to bridge the gap between 'what is known' by one party and 'what is validated' across all parties. The difficulty lies in ensuring that the drive for data sharing does not become another layer of bureaucratic friction, but rather an automated mechanism that enhances human decision-making at critical handoffs.
What assumptions about data ownership are driving the resistance to fully realizing this shared view? How can a standardized system be implemented when incentives remain localized? If the goal is to combat polycriminality, is the focus too heavily placed on physical tracking, or does it risk obscuring the organizational and financial structures that permit these crimes? How do disparate stakeholders align their incentives when the ultimate success metric shifts from internal security to external crime mitigation?
Sentinel — Human
This text presents a well-structured argument connecting supply chain data integrity, technology implementation (like RFID), and policy reform to combat retail theft, reflecting the style of informed business journalism.