Retail crime costs industry 1.9 billion pounds, more money put into cyber security

The total cost of crime and crime prevention for British retailers increased by 12 percent to 1.9 billion pounds last year - equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the estimated profits of the entire industry - according to a new report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The survey of 11,000 UK stores found that 900 million pounds was the direct cost from retail crime, while one billion pounds was spent in crime prevention efforts. Over 700 million pounds was lost to customer theft - a rise of 31 percent on the previous year.

Violence remains a major problem, according to the study, with an average of 115 retail employees getting attacked every day. The use of knives by assailants was pointed out as an issue of “significant concern”.

Cyber attacks on the rise

Cyber security is also a key consideration for stores. Retailers spent 17 percent more on cyber-security in 2018 than the year before, and nearly 80 percent of those surveyed had seen an increase in the number of cyber attacks.

Commenting on the findings in a statement, the National Cyber Security Centre’s director of engagement, Clare Gardiner, said: “The NCSC is committed to helping to improve the UK’s cyber security, which is why we have worked in partnership with the British Retail Consortium to produce the BRC Cyber Security Toolkit.

“Cyber attacks can have a huge impact, but to help potential victims pro-actively defend themselves we have published a range of easy-to-implement guidance on our website. Organisations can also share threat intelligence in a confidential way through the NCSC’s online Cyber Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP), which increases awareness to dangers and reduces the impact on UK businesses.”

'Parliament must play its part in stemming this tide of crime'

Around 70 percent of respondents described the police response to retail crime as poor or very poor and, while opinions showed the police response was generally better for violent incidents compared to customer theft or fraud, only 20 percent of respondents considered the response good or excellent.

“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,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.

“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.”

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