NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Winona Ryder's shoplifting odyssey is not likely to put Saks Inc. in the red.

But the Oscar-nominated star's actions do focus attention on a growing problem for the nation's retailers, who have taken added measures in the last few years to combat shoplifters.

Shoplifting cost retailers $10.2 billion in 2001, or 1.2 percent of all general merchandise sales, according to figures from the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade group. That's up from $8.45 billion in 2000.

Oscar-nominated actress Winona Ryder was convicted of trying to steal clothes from Saks

Retailers are acutely attuned to shoplifting at this time of year, when the critical holiday period that accounts for half their year' sales and profits kicks in. When the economy is bad, like now, shoplifting tends to increase and retailers' profits come under pressure.

"It is a challenging problem for retailers," said Daniel Butler, the NRF's vice president for retail operations. "I think you're going to see retailers reacting to this trend by using technology as a deterrent. There's a high level of awareness around the retail public already."

Butler's comments come as a jury Wednesday found Ryder, the star of such films as "The Age of Innocence" and "Little Women," guilty of trying to steal clothes from a Saks Fifth Avenue store last year, a finding that could land her up to three years in prison.

Ryder, 31, was found guilty of felony grand theft and vandalism in stealing more than $5,500 in merchandise from the upscale department store in Beverly Hills last December. That's well above the average $182 worth of merchandise most shoplifters cop, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual report on crime statistics.

The jury found the 31-year-old actress not guilty on a third charge of second-degree commercial burglary.

Witnesses for the prosecution, who included the store's head of security and a store theft investigator, testified Ryder brought scissors to cut large anti-theft sensor tags out of designer clothes, then told them she was doing it as practice for a movie role.

But her actions are the least of retailers' worries. The biggest threat from shoplifting comes from organized rings that regularly hit up stores for popular merchandise which can then be sold on the street or the black market, the NRF's Butler said.

Men's dress shirts, DVDs and compact discs and even baby formula are some items most in demand by shoplifters because they are easy to conceal and command a high street value, Butler said.

"The more desirable the merchandise, the more desirable it is to be shoplifted," Butler said.

Ryder's case shows that there is no single profile for a shoplifter. Rather than try to profile potential shoplifters, store security looks for certain behaviors, such as avoiding the sales staff, or migrating to out-of-site corners, or scoping the back of a department and checking out the security equipment to see if they are being watched, Butler said.

Retailers typically plan for a certain amount of theft when preparing their annual budgets, but that $10.2 billion comes right off the bottom line.

"They may have a plan for shrinkage, they know what their target is. But just because you plan for it does not mean it's not a financial loss to the company. It still impacts them," Butler said.

To combat the problem, merchants are increasingly turning to a new centralized surveillance technology in which security personnel can monitor cameras at multiple stores at once from a central location, which is cheaper than hiring people to monitor individual stores, Butler said.

And retailers are also working on improved packaging, connecting anti-theft devices directly to an item rather than just to the packaging.

Though it's virtually impossible to stop all theft, simply being more alert can cut down on crime.

"You always have to remember that professional thieves like to shop when they think they won't be noticed, like at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, or on snowy days when they think staff are paying more attention to cleaning the floor, Butler said. "The objective of the thief is to go unnoticed."