UK Shoplifting: Smart Security Loss Prevention​ Strategies

Shoplifting in the UK is at an all-time high, with a staggering 516,971 offences recorded in England and Wales last year – a 20% increase on 2023, and the highest figure since records began in 2003. The real scale of the problem is likely to be substantially worse than that, as many retailers won’t bother reporting these crimes to the police due to a lack of confidence in the outcome. So what can be done about it?

The hidden costs of shoplifting

Increasingly brazen, and often the work of organised gangs, shoplifting has become a major problem for retailers in recent years, and not merely for its most obvious impact on revenues. For starters, it’s a risk to staff safety. It’s also a guaranteed dent to their morale when those trays of sandwiches they spent ages preparing earlier are swept off the shelves and stolen in one fell swoop. And when morale suffers, productivity goes down and workforce turnover goes up, adding to your financial woes.

Equally worrying, shoplifting is a risk to your reputation, with customers who witness a shoplifting incident potentially sharing footage online and coming away with the impression that your store isn’t safe, creating a sense of unease that may deter them from coming back. The British Retail Consortium estimates that 24% of Brits have seen such an incident in the last year, so it’s not a minor concern.

The fightback: preventing shoplifting with smart security

It’s clear that traditional shop security isn’t cutting the mustard when it comes to preventing shoplifting. Instead, many retailers are discovering the benefits of smart security – in this case, CCTV enhanced with AI – to help turn the tide against shoplifters and get serious about loss prevention. Systems like our V5 platform combine traditional surveillance with AI-enhanced features that enable more than just passive recording, offering anti-shoplifting capabilities, including:

• Facial recognition technology – this can check faces against a database of known shoplifters, recognising repeat offenders when they enter the store. This can be used to warn staff, potentially enabling them to ask the individual to leave before they steal something, or allowing them to remain in a safe location.
• Behaviour analysis – this technology is capable of alerting staff to suspicious behaviour, such as loitering too long in a particular area or attempting to hide something, enabling early intervention.
• Easy evidence capture and incident logging – our own V5 system enables staff to press a button on a key fob when a shoplifting incident occurs, automatically logging it and capturing timestamped footage of the whole incident for passing on to the police, increasing the chances of a conviction.

By implementing smart security technology, you’re taking proactive loss prevention steps that will help staff feel safer, protect your stock and have a positive knock-on effect on customer experience, too.

Time for a security upgrade?

Shoplifting is worse than ever, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit by and put up with its ever-present threat. If you’re still relying on basic CCTV – and the hours of wading through footage that involves every time you need evidence for police enquiries – it might be time to upgrade your security system.

Contact our team on 01749 600 600 or email hello@ifacility.co.uk to find out more about how our smart security system can help you fight back against shoplifting.