2020 Retail Crime Survey

The 2020 Retail Crime Survey is the latest edition of the most comprehensive and respected survey of the state and nature of crime in the UK’s retail sector. Bringing together the experiences of our membership, our analysis is based on a thorough and precise understanding of the daily challenges facing our retail colleagues throughout this country.

Helen Dickinson, CEO, British Retail Consortium:

In February 2020, the Prime Minister argued that “we should not tolerate crimes of violence against shopworkers”. He is right, but it is essential such words are backed up by action. Violence is a scourge on our industry and the three million people who work tirelessly to deliver for consumers around the country. It harms the people who work in our shops; the families they go home to; the communities they belong to. It must not be tolerated. The BRC’s Retail Crime Survey plays an important role in helping the industry understand the threats it faces from retail crime. This report highlights a number of uncomfortable truths that we must address as a society.

Retail workers face a torrent of violence and abuse in the workplace. Our survey records an average of 424 violent or abusive incidents each day. These are not just crimes of opportunity – they are often professional operations, planned and executed by organised criminal gangs who use the proceeds to fund other illegal activities. Weapons are used to threaten or injure staff as they go about their job, so while the impact is societal, it is retail workers who are in the firing line.

It is against this backdrop that retailers are spending record amounts on crime prevention - £1.2 billion in 2017/18. Despite this, the losses attributed to crime rose to £1.0 billion, making a total cost to retailers of £2.2 billion. This represents resources that could be better put to use investing in better services for customers, hiring and training staff, or opening new stores. It is also a heavy burden to bear at a time when retail margins have been squeezed by a combination of rising costs and weak demand.

This report should be a wake up for many of our politicians. For too long they have left retailers and retail workers to fend for themselves. Let us now take seriously the impact of violence in retail and make the legal repercussions for these crimes match the level of harm it causes to our hardworking retail colleagues.