The cost of crime to the UK retail sector rose to £1.9 billion last year, an increase of 12% on the 2017 figure, according to the British Retail Consortium’s annual Retail Crime Survey.
According to the survey, this figure is comprised of £900 million in direct costs from retail crime and £1 billion spent on efforts to prevent crime.
Customer theft, valued at £700 million, is 31% higher than the previous year. In addition, the study found that on average, 115 workers in the retail trade were attacked every day of the year.
According to the study, some 70% of respondents working in the retail sector felt that the police response to retail crime was ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
While opinions felt that the police response was generally better when it came to violent incidents, just 20% of the respondents considered the response ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
The study also found that retailers are spending 17% more on cyber security than last year (£162 million) and nearly 80% of the retailers surveyed saw an increase in the number of cyber attacks.
Huge Burden
“The spiralling cost of retail crime – both in losses and the cost of prevention – are a huge burden to a retail sector that is already weighed down by the twin challenges of skyrocketing business costs and Brexit uncertainty,” commented Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.
“We hope this report will act as a catalyst for Police and Crime Commissioners around the country to take action. Retail crime should be explicitly addressed by Police and Crime Plans.
"Furthermore, Parliament must play its part in stemming this tide of crime by creating a specific criminal offence to protect retail employees from assault at work, as has been done for emergency workers.”
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
