ORGANISED shoplifting gangs who target expensive items and steal in bulk have helped push the impact of theft on retailers to a ten-year high, according to new research.

The value of goods, money or services stolen from stores jumped by more than a third to an aver - age of £241 per incident in the last financial year, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey found.

Combined with increasing levels of fraud, including cyber-crime, the trend helped drive the direct cost of crime suffered by the retail sector to an estimated £603million in 2013-14 – an increase of 18 per cent compared to £511million in the previous year, the report said.

Although the volume of theft offences from shops fell by 4 per cent compared to the previous year, the average financial cost of each case is now at its highest since the current recording system was first implemented in 2004.

The increase in the cost per inci - dent was also significantly higher than the average growth rate of 20 per cent seen over the last seven years.

Experts said the pattern was partly due to the fact that retailers are being targeted by “an increas - ingly sophisticated criminal”.

Retailers also reported thieves are adapting their techniques to avoid detection.

Tactics include using “de-taggers” to remove security tags and lining bags with tin foil to beat the sensors.