Patrick Browne: "Human cost"

Scottish Retail Consortium director Patrick Browne said: "This survey reveals for the first time the real financial and human cost that many shoppers and retailers are paying because of retail crime.

"Retail crime needs to be tackled effectively not just because of its economic impact, but also because of its social and human consequences.

"Drug abuse is a major driver of customer theft in the retail industry.

"Retailers have welcomed the Scottish Executive's efforts to tackle the problems caused by the drug crime, but there is a need for the executive to assist in the creation of crime prevention partnerships across Scotland to tackle the problem on the ground more effectively."

Economic impact

Other figures compiled by the survey found that customer theft amounted to �64m while staff theft cost the industry �34m.

Scottish retailers spent �54m on improving security but the actual cost of crime was estimated at �127m.

Of all the thieves detained by police and store detectives, 31% were under the age of 18, compared to the UK average of 22%.

One third of detained thieves were under 18

Across the country, an average of eight retail employees in every 1,000 were victims of physical violence.

The survey found that 81% of these incidents related to staff trying to prevent customer theft.

In terms of economic impact, Glasgow lost �28m - more money than any other Scottish city.

Edinburgh came second with a loss of �22.2m, Aberdeen third with �12.8m and Dundee fourth with �7m.

Around one tenth of Scotland's workforce - 210,000 people - are employed in the retail sector.