Lies, damned lies and shoplifting statistics

Loss prevention and retail security staff do not despair – the figures all over the press yesterday about shoplifting being up by 20% are not quite as cut and dried as they seem.

Delve below the hype of that topline figure, and actually I would argue that retail loss prevention and security teams are doing a pretty good job of tackling shrinkage through the recession.

There has been a lot of investment in loss prevention technology in the past couple of years, and theft from the supply chain and shrinkage caused by process and administrative errors appear to be falling as a result.

The real issue that needs to be addressed is that there remains no effective legal deterrent or punishment to match retailers’ hard work on crime prevention.

Most of yesterday was spent trawling through the Centre for Retail Research’s 97-page report The Global Retail Theft Barometer 2009. Digging down into the UK-specific figures, and comparing them against last year’s report, shows that customer theft has risen by 8.6% in product value terms. It’s not great, but it’s no where near the 20% figure.

Some 40.7% of the 48 UK retailers who responded to the survey reported increased shoplifting attempts, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the soaring unemployment rate. But this only highlights the good work loss prevention teams and store staff in general are doing to ensure that the 8.6% rise in customer theft isn’t higher.

What retailers could do with is some more support from the criminal justice system, to ensure that appropriate deterrents and punishment are in place recognising the full extent of the problems that shoplifting and associated offences cause.

A Retail Week column by Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker on the subject highlights how awful the abuse and assaults are that store staff face when they confront shoplifters.

Yet at the weekend, adding insult to injury, we learn that not only do police continue to be given the power to issue shoplifters with cautions; but they are using those same measures when dealing with violent crimes. Retailers face the prospect of thieves going unpunished even when they assault their store staff.

Retail Week would love to hear retailers’ thoughts on this issue, and particularly from those who have been affected by this rise in the use of cautions.