Small appliances volume sales will surpass major appliances and grow by 22 percent globally by 2019, according to research by Euromonitor International. Global consumer interest is turning towards small appliances, such as air treatment, cooking appliances and vacuum cleaners, which reflects the huge demands for health care and life-enhancing products. More than half of global sales of these products are coming from China, followed by France, Japan and Turkey.

Shrink, consisting of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors, cost the retail industry more than $112bn globally last year, according to the 2012-2013 Global Retail Theft Barometer, and represented 1.4 percent of retail sales, on average.