Dive Brief:

• Wal-Mart Stores U.S. retail chief Greg Foran said Thursday that the retail giant is aiming to reduce theft and other shrinkage at its 4,500-plus stores nationwide.

• The push is not so much due to an increasing problem but to recoup losses of some $30 million annually (the typical 1% of sales for any retailer) and stem a 13 basis point decline in the company's gross profit margin, he said.

• The push is also part of an overall set of changes to improve store management that the retailer has been introducing recently, including wage increases, a more relaxed dress code, and better shopper-staff interactions. 

Dive Insight:

Wal-Mart is already pretty famous for squeezing various areas of its retail business — including pressuring suppliers and keeping wages low. Its recent wage increases may mean that the retailer needs to trim fat elsewhere. And, although the problem isn’t necessarily growing, according to Foran, as Wal-Mart boosts its food offerings, it may indeed be facing more theft in that category. Foran said that half its shrinkage related to theft was in food. 

"One percent of $300 billion is quite a lot of money. If you can save 10 basis points of it — boy I'll take it every day of the week and put it into lower prices for customers," Foran told Reuters.