Shoplifting
theft of various items from usually a retail or supermarket store
Shoplifting (also known as shop theft, shop fraud, retail theft, retail fraud or microlooting) is the theft of goods from a retail establishment during business hours. The terms shoplifting and shoplifter are not usually defined in law, and generally fall under larceny. In the retail industry, the word shrinkage (or shrink) is used to refer to merchandise often lost by shoplifting. The term five-finger discount is a euphemism for shoplifting, humorously referencing stolen items taken "at no cost" with the five fingers.
The first documented shoplifting started to take place in 16th century London. By the early 19th century, shoplifting was believed to be primarily a female activity. In the 1960s, shoplifting began to be redefined again, this time as a political act. Researchers divide shoplifters into two categories: boosters (professionals who resell what they steal), and snitches (amateurs who steal for their personal use). Shoplifters range from amateurs acting on impulse to career criminals who habitually engage in shoplifting as a form of income. Career criminals may use several individuals to shoplift, with some participants distracting store employees while another participant steals items.
The public source identifies “Shoplifting” as theft of various items from usually a retail or supermarket store. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shoplifting, theft and various.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q383906. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shoplifting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.