‘Out of control’ crime: How are retailers cracking down on criminals?

Retail crime has almost doubled in the past few years, and it’s a catastrophe that’s bearing down on the industry. Co-op Food managing director Matt Hood warns that incidents of theft and antisocial behaviour have become “brazen”, “violent” and “out of control”, with one store being looted three times in a single day and more than 1,000 incidents per day reported across its estate.

Situations involving abuse, physical assault and threats with weapons rose from over 450 incidents per day in 2019/20 to a staggering 850 per day in 2021/22, according to research from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). 

As the government reportedly plans to crackdown on retail criminals with facial recognition technology and tougher sentences, here are some of the techniques retailers have been employing to get a handle on the spiralling problem. 

Love bombing

Love bombing, by definition, is the “practice of lavishing someone with attention or affection, especially in order to influence or manipulate them”.

An approach that might seem bizarre to some, but it seems to be working for Waitrose as it has recently trialled the technique in some of its stores.

The technique requires staff to be extra attentive to customers and, in particular, asking if they need help at self-checkouts – where shoplifting is most prevalent.

John Lewis Partnership head of security Nicki Juniper told Retail Week: “Love-bombing lands in a sweet spot: for the vast majority of shoppers, it’ll just seem like the friendly customer service they expect from us.

“But for that small proportion who might be considering shoplifting, it can act as a deterrent knowing that our partners are present and attentive. We initially trialled it in six branches and it showed promising results, so we rolled it out more widely.”  

However, given the pressure on staff numbers and costs, showering sticky-fingered customers with love and attention may not be a practical response for all retailers. 

Investment in tech

Making sure the latest crime-busting tech is in the arsenal is another top priority.

The BRC’s head of communication Tom Holder says its recent crime survey revealed retailers spent around £750m in 2021/22 on crime prevention including body cameras, security tags, security staff and other innovative techniques.

Various Sainsbury’s stores have introduced a rule where customers have to scan their receipts before leaving the store after using the self-checkout, while other stores have taken certain products off the shelf altogether.

The Co-op’s campaigns, public affairs and board secretariat director Paul Gerrard says it has had to invest millions in technology as one particular store has seen its kiosk jumped 50 times in six months.

He says: “We spent £200m in the last five years on security and safety measures, which is about four times the national average for a convenience store.”

He says the store that is frequently robbed is equipped with “state-of-the-art CCTV,  and all colleagues have headsets, body-worn cameras, product protection and undercover guarding.”

Store closures

As a last resort, where it’s no longer safe to operate, retailers may have to look at store closures. 

In San Francisco, more than a dozen stores have been forced to close since the beginning of 2023, partly due to crime, including Amazon Go, Anthropologie and Nordstrom.

This approach may already be in the works for the Co-op, as Gerrard says the next step for the retailer could be to shut shops where criminals operate.

“We’re going to have to look very carefully at whether some stores are viable, and we’ll find roles for our colleagues in different stores,” he says.

“It’s about protecting colleagues and about making sure that store continues to be a community asset, not a place where the community begins to fall down.”

Police involvement

Retailers may have the investment, the staff and the technology, but they do not have the same power or resources as the police.

Gerrard says the police have been called out numerous times to Co-op stores, but they fail to attend the majority of the time.

“The number of incidents reported from Co-op stores went up 48% in 2023, but the number of times police attend hasn’t changed,” he says.

“In fact, the police do not attend in 71% of cases reported.”

The BRC has been campaigning for the police and government to do more to ensure that workers are safe and that retail crime is taken seriously.

“We were very fortunate to get an amendment on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which makes it an aggravated offence to attack a retail worker, but we haven’t seen clear measurements of how often that’s being used when sentencing an aggravated assault,” Holder says.

The Scottish government has changed the Protection of Workers Act, which means assaulting a retail worker is a standalone offence and harsher sentencing accompanies that. 

If the rest of the UK follows suit, this could have wide implications for criminals, as well as help store staff and communities feel safe in store.