The rising cost of retail crime - The Liverpool Network

“The high street is an intrinsic part of our communities, so it’s only right that we do our bit to make front-line colleagues feel supported and safe.”

An issue that has long been simmering under the surface, now standing as one of the biggest challenges facing the high street is retail crime. Shoplifting has reached unprecedented levels, with retailer losses doubling last year to the tune of £1.8bn – an alarming sum. In recent months, partly owing to the great work the British Retail Consortium has done in raising awareness of it, the spotlight is on the impact of shoplifting and abusive behaviour on our high streets and how we can positively tackle this.

There’s been much debate on whether shoplifting is simply a cost of doing business or whether it is something that should be taken more seriously. The reality is that it’s a bit of both, and if the public and private sectors work in lockstep to address this, we can continue to make retail a fantastic sector to work in. Typically, shoplifting forms part of what retailers define as ‘shrinkage’. A combination of losses due to shoplifting, internal theft, poor processes causing accounting discrepancies, and also products retailers have to write-off due to damage or faults often linked to returns.

Every retailer will factor shrinkage in and build it into its margin. But, with shoplifting growing rapidly, BRC estimates putting it at 45,000 incidents per day, this can only mean a retailer will take the hit on margin – which could lead to increased prices for customers. Not only do retailers lose money directly from theft, but the indirect consequence is that they also have to scramble around to find the cash to spend on preventative measures. As a customer, you might have already seen some of these changes – convenience store till areas converted into mini fortresses, body-worn CCTV providing real-time video evidence of the criminals or training by specialist companies in de-escalation. The high street is an intrinsic part of our communities, so it’s only right that we do our bit to make front-line colleagues feel supported and safe, even if the preventative measure costs are beginning to dwarf the direct losses from shoplifting.

However, despite the increased investment into preventative measures, retailers up and down the country are sadly seeing more and more people leave the sector due to safety concerns. It’s clear that there is a problem, but it’s not as clear what the effective solution would be, and this is where it’s up to the government to work closely with retailers to mitigate this growing problem.

The government recently announced it was scrapping the criticised policy where minor thefts under £200 went largely unprosecuted, as well as a commitment to making attacking a shopkeeper a standalone offence – both things that are no doubt music to retailers’ ears. Yet, with evident strains to public services, it’s clear that the issue of retail crime isn’t an easy problem to solve, and the threat of prosecution will only go far. But, some of the answers can already be seen and are being adopted locally by retailers and collectively in some crime reduction partnerships. Technology such as facial recognition, which is increasingly being used by UK police on the high street, could be incorporated by retailers on a national basis. This technology could provide instant real-time alerts of those with criminal intent to police and security teams, potentially through government accreditation to allow data sharing to drive out criminal behaviour.

Another remedy could be taking the licensing of security officers a step further – allowing them to issue fixed penalty notices similar to what the police use when they catch people committing crimes, reducing the burden on our overstretched police service and effectively allowing businesses to self-police. These are not extreme solutions but instead are options that help bridge the gap between public and private policing to create safer communities for us all to live, work and shop in.

Retail is an incredible industry to work in, one that offers many people their first taste of employment. It’s one of the few industries where colleagues know their customers on a first-name basis and truly understand their needs. The impact social interaction between colleagues and customers plays in creating a vibrant community simply cannot be overstated. The Retail Trust’s Respect Retail and the National Business Crime Centre’s Shop Kind campaigns have been instrumental in bringing the industry together and shining the spotlight on this important issue, but there is still a way to go, and it’s up to us all to do our part.

Creating safer communities for colleagues and customers, whilst also reducing retail losses, is an issue that requires a national approach. By combining the expertise of both private and public sectors, we can continue to create a truly thriving high street – a win-win for everyone!