Dealing with stealing Bryan

There have been a few reports recently on the mounting pain being caused by shoplifting in the UK. The cost is thought to be in the billions, and a number of retailers are reporting that a lot of thieving has shifted from stealing to sell towards stealing to eat. This is by no means a problem limited to the UK – big US retailers such as Walgreens and Target have also reported that theft has become a massive drain on profitability.

Walgreens, in particular, has been aggressive in trying to address the problem with new store formats and merchandising techniques that seem to involve putting most of the shop behind Perspex screens, or transforming entire stores into Argos-style counter services.

The line between shrink prevention and sales prevention is a very fine one, and I worry retailers in the UK might be crossing that line. The most elegant solutions I’ve seen so far have been in Morrisons and Tesco, both of which are trying locked cabinets for spirits and champagne. These require the shopper to press a button, which summons a staff member, who then goes to the cabinet to give the customer what they want. If someone takes, say, three bottles of Jack Daniel’s, security can then be alerted to ensure the appropriate checkout process is observed.

L ess elegant solutions I’ve witnessed have included a widespread deployment of dummy boxes, laminated photos or simply locking spirits up – expecting shoppers to find a colleague to unlock the cabinet. Dummy boxes and laminated pictures are well and good, but the wait for a colleague to go into the warehouse, unlock the spirits room and retrieve the item comes at too high a cost in terms of time and friction. Many shoppers would simply get the item elsewhere.

Other tactics have included placing items such as coffee, meat, protein bars, booze and premium chocolate in security boxes, while Tesco has also been deploying tag nets on BWS and non-food items like Lego. These are relatively frictionless, and just involve a quick box or tag removal at checkout.

A nother problem for retailers is shoppers walking out. Sainsbury’s has been trying to address this by forcing shoppers to come in via entrance gates. Shoppers who use

* Vapes under fire

+ I’VE BANGED ON about this before, but I get the feeling the vape sector is heading for a much more interventionist stance from government. Stories about the negative health impact of vaping on younger consumers, underage sales, littering and the lack of a systematic recycling system mean the mood music is heading towards a degr ee of state involvement. Much of this concerns manufacturers, but I expect there will also be fallout for independent retailers.

self-scan or self-checkout have to scan their receipts on the way out for the exit gates to open. Shoppers do not seem to enjoy either having to print out receipts, however, or the ‘guilty until proven innocent’ atmosphere this creates.

The problem is that honest customers are having to pay the price for the less-law-abiding. I understand why retailers are putting these measures in place, though, as the impact on a store’s performance and profitability can be massive.

Independent retailers I have spoken to have said, however, they might be better placed than some of the multiples to address crime, as they have smaller stores, are generally more observant and have decent CCTV.

Shoplifting has been around for as long as shops have existed, and this problem gets much worse during times of economic turbulence and hardship. I get the sense retailers feel utterly unsupported by an overstretched police force that won’t come out for crimes involving less than £200, with punishments likely to be no more than a fine or a rap on the knuckles rather than anything more substantial

As with abuse and violence towards shop workers, the retail industry justifiably feels unsupported when it comes to shoplifting; shoplifters are aware it is a potentially lucrative crime with effectively no punishment. I hope you are all successfully managing the problem and that it will subside as the cost-of-living crisis abates.