At the end of 2019 the headlines, news and media reported £4.82 billion as the total retail crime losses in the UK during 2019. However, only 7% of these crimes were reported by the customer, the employees or the warehouse.
So let’s have a look at the breakdown of UK retail crime losses from 2019. According to FaceWatch 34.6% of the UK retail crime losses were retail customer theft in shops. This adds up to a cost of £1.9bn in 2019, from customer theft in shops alone.
So where do the rest of the UK retail crime losses come in?
£0.9bn of retail losses were from suppliers and warehouse crimes. 12.5% of losses were from organised crime, which totalled £0.6bn. Finally £1.3bn of losses was down to theft by the staff members working in the retail shop. This equates to around £1.3billion.
So how safe are retail shops and retail staff members in the UK?
In 2019, there were 374,395 cases of shoplifting in the UK. Around 1 in 4 retail staff members have experienced violence of abuse at work by criminals. Reports by FaceWatch show that there were over 41,000 reported cases of violence or abuse against staff members in retail shops.
Let’s look at the cost of retail crime in the UK for shop owners, consumers and the UK as a whole.
Retail crime costs the everyday consumer £73 per year. The cost of security and crime prevention equipment and security staffing came in at around £10bn for retail business last year. 1.42% of turnover in the retail industry within the UK is accounted for by crime.
However, it seems that the worst is yet to come. Retail crime is on the rise and looks to get worse. That said; there was understandable a drop in retail crimes during the lockdown of 2020 as shops were closed and people were encouraged to isolate, now leaving their homes.
There has been an 8.7% increase on customer theft year on year, up until 2019. 50% of all retailers felt that retail crime had a poor response from the police. As well as this, there has been a 21% increase in organised crime year on year.
If you own a retail business it is essential that you make sure your business is safe and secure. This will help protect your shop, your employees, your stock and your business as a whole. Call our team now for a free business security review. We can offer advice and guidance that will help improve your current retail security.
