When we discuss theft and fraud in the retail sector we quite often overlook

the supermarket segment. In the main we usually speak about the up-market

area of retail. For years we have been under the false illusion that theft and fraud, either

didn’t occur or was of such an insignificant amounts in the supermarket

Sector that in a majority of cases, companies either didn’t acknowledge the

Problem, or treated it as if it was just of nuisance value. For example, so many supermarkets have closed down in Uganda because of fraud.

Security staff have the major problem of convincing the persons in charge,

that not only are customers stealing from supermarkets, but that in fact,

they are major concerns in terms of shrinkage in our supermarkets.

Unfortunately no person or organization have undertaken a survey on theft

and fraud in supermarkets within Uganda.

After stating all the above, are we justified in making statements that

Customer theft and fraud is a major problem and is in fact costing the

Supermarkets in Uganda millions of money each year? so this is a call to all supermarket owners to train their staff on how to avoid fraud and how to deal with it when it occurs.