A new study shows the down economy may be changing the face of retail crime. The report suggests that employees are stealing less merchandise while shoplifting or theft by consumers and gangs is on the rise.

The online survey of 83 small-to-large multi-national retailers was conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR), a research company run by retailers for the retail industry, and is titled "Loss Prevention 2010: Retailers Battling Shrink in Tough Times."

"Traditionally employee theft has been the largest portion of the retail crime pie and it still is, but we believe we are seeing a shift in employee theft as retailers get better at spotting it," said Kelvin Lam, vice president of Retail and Security Products, ADT Security, Asia Pacific. "At the same time, the economy is reducing the number of employees in the stores and creating more opportunities for shoplifting and gangs."

Retailers were asked to name their top three sources of theft. In 2009, 68 per cent named employee theft of merchandise as one of their top concerns - down 12 percent from the previous year. At the same time, 62 per cent of retailers listed shoplifting by customers as a top concern, compared with 52 per cent in 2008.

While employee theft of cash is a smaller portion of retail crime than merchandise theft by employees, customers and gangs, it has become of increasing concern to retailers. More than 45 per cent listed theft of cash by employees as one of the top three concerns, which is 13 per cent more than in 2008.

According to Lam, retailers have gotten better at identifying employee theft. Still, the economy presents more opportunities for shoplifters because in addition to there being fewer watchful employees on the store floor, there are more opportunities to resell discounted stolen items online or at flea markets to bargain-hungry consumers.