Cost of retail crime surpasses £2bn a year

There were 17% more incidents of theft or damage than in 2018, with customer theft constituting the vast majority. Customer theft – shoplifting from stores – now accounts for £770m, or 79%, of total losses to criminals.

The number of daily criminal incidents in retail rose 9% year on year to 424. Although the total number of daily acts of abuse and violence against shop staff has risen steadily since 2016, the number of violent incidents per day plateaued in 2019 at 100.

The BRC believes this is because colleagues are being told not to intervene, so they are less regularly engaging with potentially violent shoplifters. This, however, has an impact on the total cost of stolen goods.

The survey, published today, was drawn from companies with nearly £130bn annual turnover, controlling around 33% of the UK retail industry. Collectively, they employ over 820,000 staff members.

The use of weapons is becoming an even more significant threat in conjunction with retail crimes, often used in customer theft situations for little gain. Knives are the most commonly used weapon, followed by syringes and ‘hitting implements’ such as hammers.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Over 400 retail workers are subjected to violence or abuse in the workplace every day. These are not just statistics; these are real people who work hard for millions of customers every day. From abuse to threats to violence, those affected carry these experiences with them for a lifetime.

“The government must help put an end to the scourge of retail crime. This means a stronger police response to criminal incidents, and new legislation to introduce tougher sentences for those who assault retail workers. No one should have to go to work fearing violence or threats.”

The survey also shows that 70% of respondents view the police response to retail crime as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, down from 80% in the previous year’s survey. A quarter see the response as ‘fair’ and ‘5% see it as ‘good’, up from 0% in 2018.

While this figure is promising, there is still work to be done. A key issue is the £200 threshold – while legally only relating to the court in which an incident can be prosecuted, there is a perception among police that they should not attend to any incident with stolen goods amounting to less than £200.

The BRC is lobbying Parliament to make attacks on retail workers a specific criminal offence. It also calls on the police to place retail crime higher on their agenda and improve its response, even for lower-value stolen goods.