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British Retail Crime Survey Results 2010

British Retail Crime Survey 2010

Massive investment in crime prevention has resulted in fewer incidents of most types of retail crime, according to new statistics but retailers have yet to reap the financial benefits.

The British Retail Consortium's (BRC's) Retail Crime Survey 2010, published on the 10^th January 2011 shows a welcome 11% reduction in the overall number of offences (per 100 outlets) compared with the previous year. Shoplifting incidents were down 10.6% though the total value of goods stolen was still up on the previous year.

The reduction in crime has however, come with significant cost. In 2009/10, retailers were forced to spend over £210 million on protecting their staff, stock and premises. That was 10% more than the previous year and is equivalent to the cost of 52,000 full-time retail jobs. And the human cost of retail crime remains high. Despite a reduction by 50% in the number of offences, more than 18,000 staff reported suffering verbal or physical abuse.

The BRC is calling for retailers' substantial and increased commitment to be matched by a similar level of commitment from law makers and law enforcers.

Despite retailers' success in deterring offences, the new survey shows participating retailers suffered 482,831 incidents of customer theft in a year. Assuming an average shop is open 12 hours a day that equates to almost two thefts per minute across the UK.

Respondents to the survey, who represent 48% of UK retail turnover, indicated only half of all customer thefts are detected, suggesting almost 2 million offences in a year across the whole industry.

The new survey shows the total value of goods stolen by customers was £137 million. The average value of goods stolen in each incident was £70, up from £45 the previous year. The next most costly forms of retail crime were fraud, burglary and staff theft.

British Retail Consortium Director General Stephen Robertson said: "Retailers have already stepped up to deliver the Big Society and safe, vibrant communities. Faced with soaring retail crime in recent years, boosted by the recession and insufficient action by the police and courts, retailers dug deeper into their own pockets and spent even more on crime prevention measures. It's encouraging to see this having a positive impact on the number of shoplifting offences but the cost to retailers still went up.

"Retailers' extra investment in stopping crime has deterred a lot of opportunist thefts leaving a higher proportion of determined, organised thieves who take a greater value of goods each time they steal.

"At the same time, that investment has revealed more incidents of staff theft."

Theft by employees was the only area to see a rise in incidents. It accounts for only 5% of all retail crime by value but 68% more incidents were recorded than the previous year. The increase is partly explained by employers improving their methods of detection. Though there were more incidents, the total value of goods stolen by employees fell.

This year’s report was completed by 48% of UK retailers; this represents 54 retailers and 1,304,931 staff.

The BRC see the following key challenges during 2011:

1. Ensure that retail is seen as the cornerstone of safe and vibrant communities and the retailers are genuinely involved in setting local crime priorities.

2. Collate and share examples of good practice being adopted by retailers to reduce offences.

3. Tackle the under-reporting of offences, especially those involving violence against staff, and challenge the perception that abuse is ‘part of the job’. This will become increasingly important as police begin to place greater importance on crime maps to determine local crime priorities

4. Continue to invest in technological solutions, enhanced training of staff and make effective use of systems and processes to reduce offences.

The BRC is keen to work with all stakeholders across the UK in delivering against these priorities in order to secure economic growth and preservation of local jobs and services.

Survey Results

Retail crime cost retailers £1.1 billion in 2009/10; however retail crime incidents per 100 outlets, excluding fraud fell by 11%, all types of crime fall with the exception of internal theft.

Retailers estimate that the average shrinkage is 1.28%, as expressed as a proportion of sales, although the definition of shrinkage varied between retailers, 95% of retailers considered internal and external theft as shrinkage, 77% included process failure and just 33% included inter-company fraud as shrinkage.

According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer, annual shrinkage to June 2010 (which includes internal process losses and waste as well as retail crime) in the UK was 1.29% of sales. Shrinkage in Europe was consistent with the UK at 1.27% of sales

Customer Theft

Customer theft remains the major source of retail crime, accounting for 74% of all theft by value. According to the survey 95.4% of all crime is attributed to customer thefts. In 2010 there was a 10.6% decrease in the number of customer thefts per 100 outlets compared to 2009. The report concluded that if the whole industry was included there was an estimated two million customer thefts committed in 2010.

Customer thefts per 100 outlets and value lost per incident 2004/10

2004/05

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

%change

2009/10

Average

2004/10

Customer thefts per 100 outlets

3,385

3,847

3,958

2,914

3,902

3,490

-10.6%

3,583

Average Value stolen

£104.00

£149.00

£156.00

£69.00

£45.00

£70.44

56.5%

£98.91

The average value of each customer theft grew in 2010 to £70.44 per incident, an increase of 56.5% compared with 2009. This figure did include a greater number of jewellery and watch thefts compared to 2009. Retailers only report 12% of all incidents to the police. It is therefore unlikely that Police authorities have an accurate picture of the level of theft occurring in retail outlets. Consequently, policing priorities will not reflect actual levels of crime on high streets and other retail locations

The level of report customer theft varies across type of retailer, 47% of all customer theft was from supermarkets and 21% from departmental stores.

Convenience stores are particularly vulnerable with 6% of customer thefts incidents per 100 outlets falling within this category.

Employee Theft

For a number of years retailers have taken action to reduce employee theft, as it constitutes a serious threat to their business. In 2009/10 employee theft accounted for 5.4% of all retail crime by value compared to 7% in 2008/9. However the level of employee theft rose in 2009/10 to 6.8 incidents per one thousand staff compared to four per one thousand in 2008/9. The value of goods stolen by employees fall in 2009/10 by 67% to £290 per incident, this compares to £70.44 per customer theft in 2009/10.

Employee thefts per 1,000 employees and value lost per incident 2004/10

2004/05

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

%change

2009/10

Average

2004/10

Thefts per 1000 employees

6.8

67.7%

Average Value stolen

£685.00

£738.00

£597.00

£235.00

£872.00

£289.55

-66.8%

£569.42

Further analysis into employee theft per 1,000 employees demonstrates that 50% of all incidents took place in clothing and footwear retailers, DIY and non food outlets account for 18.7% and garden centres 11.8%. Supermarkets accounted for less than 2% of the total incidents recorded. This may be due to the investment and systems used in supermarkets.

As with customer thefts it is believed that employee theft is under recorded by 50% or more. It was interesting that despite the increase in employee theft and the value to retailers only 20% are reported to the police. Policies vary considerably between retailers with some reporting all employee thefts and others relying heavily on internal disciplinary procedures and civil recovery.

Robbery

Robberies during 2009/10 have shown a decrease by over 50% both in numbers and value; this is now the fourth consecutive year when the average value of each robbery has reduced. However the value of each robbery for 2009/10 varied from £10 to £320,000 in the BRC sample

Robberies per 100 outlets and value per incident 2004/10

2004/05

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

%change

2009/10

Average

2004/10

Robberies per 100 outlets

No data

-54.9%

Average Value stolen

No Data

£4,028.00

£5,350.00

£2,077.00

£846.60

-59.2%

No data

According to Home Office statistics 59% of robberies in England and Wales were recorded by just three forces- the Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

Burglary

Burglaries accounted for 6% of retail crime in 2009/10 by value. Over the last year burglaries reduced by 16% compared to 2008/9. Since 2004 burglaries has fallen by an average of 15%. The average stock or cash loss through each burglary was down 39% at £1,147 per incident. Jewellers, mixed retailers and garden centres suffered a disproportionate burglary losses accounting for 83.6% of all burglaries by value.

Incidents of burglary per 100 outlets 2004/10

2004/05

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

%change

2009/10

Average

2004/10

Burglaries per 100 outlets

No Data

17.5

16.1%

Average Value stolen

No Data

£4,027

No Data

£2,800.

£1,887.

£1,146.69

39.2%

No data

Criminal Damage

Criminal damage incidents have decreased by 57.5% compared to 2008/9. This marks a return to the downward trend over the last ten years since 2000/01. The overall cost of criminal damage accounted for just 2% of retail crime in 2009/10 compared to 4% in 2008/9. Around a third of incidents were reported to the police and the police recorded a 14% fall in criminal damage.

Criminal damage per 100 outlets and value lost per incident 2004/10

2004/05

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

%change

2009/10

Average

2004/10

Criminal damage per 100 outlets

No Data

-57.5%

Average value stolen

N/A

No Data

Garden centres accounted for 34.5% Supermarkets 20.8% and departmental stores 27.1% of the total criminal damage per 100 outlets.

Fraud

Nearly two thirds of retailers participating in this survey believed that fraud has increased over the last 12 months.

Refund fraud by value remains one of the largest areas of retail loss, accounting for over half of fraud by value (51%) up from 40% in 2008/09. The forging of receipts continues to become more sophisticated and better action by retailers in terms of staff training and refund monitoring can help to reduce these figures in the future

Violence against staff and anti-social behaviour

The total number of incidents of violence per 1,000 employees decreased in 2009/10 by 50% compared to 2008/9. Physical violence decreased by 57%, threats of violence decreased by 76% and abuse to staff decreased by 31%. Anti-social behaviour and incidents of violence per 1000 employees exhibited a fairly strong downwards trend falling on average 25% per year over the last six years.

Summary of violent and anti-social behaviour per 1,000 employees 2004/10

	2004/05	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9	2009/10	%change 2009/10	Average 2004/10
Verbal abuse per 1,000 employees	31	16	15	10	14	10	-31%	16
Threats of Violence per 1,000 employees	19	7	16	1	9	2	-76%	9
Physical violence per 1,000 employees	8	4	6	3	5	2	-57%	5
Total number of incidents of violence per 1,000 employees	58	27	37	14	28	14	-50%	30

Convenience stores accounted for 49% of the total incidents , other non food outlets 13.3%, and clothing and footwear 12.6% Supermarkets represented 6.5% and reflects the investment made in staff safety and in particular CCTV and uniform security guards.