A third of shoppers have witnessed shoplifting in the last 12 months

As retail crime continues to rise, with shoplifting rates reaching their highest level on record, a third of UK consumers have witnessed shoplifting in the last 12 months, according to the latest research from Retail Insight.

According to the ONS, more than 402,000 shoplifting incidents were recorded by police in 2023 – the highest number since records began in 2002. Retail crime is a growing and costly challenge for retailers. In the past year, cases of theft in convenience stores have increased five-fold and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warns that UK retail staff now face 1,300 cases of violence and abuse every day in the fight against “brazen” shoplifting. Figures also released by the BRC suggest that the total cost of retail crime to UK retailers will double to £3.3 billion in 2023.

The rise in shoplifting is so great that customers are becoming increasingly aware of in-store crime. A study of over 1,000 UK shoppers conducted by Retail Insight found that 30 per cent had witnessed a shoplifting incident in the past year, with the figure rising to 44 per cent in London. The survey also found that the average UK shopper had experienced four shoplifting incidents in the past 12 months, with the figure rising to five in London.

While these numbers are alarming, retailers are responding by investing in loss prevention strategies, which typically include reducing blind spots, placing high-value items in locked or secure cabinets, or increasing security presence in stores.

While these measures can be effective, they typically have a negative impact on the customer experience and only address one cause of shrink. The reality for retailers is that shrink has multiple facets, most of which are not so easy to identify. For these unknown causes, retailers need a more nuanced solution, as Paul Boyle, CEO of Retail Insight, suggests:

“There is no doubt that shoplifting is a major challenge and a costly problem for retailers, many of whom are already foregoing margins to keep the cost of everyday groceries as low as possible for their customers given the cost of living,” he said. “However, it is important to remember that theft is only one of the causes of shrinkage and is only part of the story.”

While shoplifting accounts for about 65 percent of total shrinkage, it is estimated that process errors, which can have a dramatic impact on inventory signals, cause a quarter (25 percent) of all retail losses.

“Often, process errors creep in from legacy systems,” Boyle continued. “That’s why retailers need access to technology that can highlight potential process errors and provide the data-driven insights needed to fix them in order to develop effective loss prevention strategies. And that requires a store-wide inventory view, as well as the automation or prompts needed to correct inventory inaccuracies to reduce losses and overall shrinkage.”