Inventory Shrinkage: Formula, Causes & 9 Levers to Reduce It [2026]

If your stock-on-hand spreadsheet says you should have 1,000 units but the warehouse count comes back at 978, the missing 22 are shrinkage. That tiny gap — usually 1–3% of revenue — is one of the quietest profit killers in ecommerce. The latest NRF National Retail Security Survey put total US retail shrinkage at US$112.1 billion in 2022, and the rate has been climbing every year since.