Shoplifting is the most common crime against businesses, and theft of food or groceries is the most common sort of shop theft, according to the 2017 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). The official telephone survey examines the extent of crime against businesses in England and Wales.
The next most common sorts of things shoplifted were clothing, alcohol and cosmetics. Other common categories of items stolen in the wholesale and retail sector included electrical or electronic equipment (and parts), and cash. Last year saw a significantly higher proportion of premises reporting that they typically had low value goods stolen in shoplifting incidents involving food and grocery items (71 per cent for all incidents and 80pc for the most recent incident).
Supermarkets felt significantly higher incidence and prevalence rates for shoplifting, compared with the wholesale and retail sector as a whole. As in previous years, in 2017 supermarkets experienced around 167,000 incidents of shoplifting per 1,000 premises. Of the respondents who confirmed that they had not experienced any customer theft in the 2017 CVS, the most common explanation given for why they had not experienced any shoplifting included prevention of shoplifting by means of tight security controls (17pc) and customers not visiting the premises (15pc). Reasons such as no record being kept of customer thefts, trading in goods difficult to carry off and difficulty in assessing stock losses were also given.
Computer viruses have been the most commonly experienced online crime every year of the survey in the 2010s. The median (middle number when placed in order) total annual spend on IT security in the wholesale and retail sector is £100 per year for businesses with one to nine employees and £1,000 for those with ten to 49. Most businesses of all sizes had anti-virus or anti-spam software and/or a firewall. Other IT security measures became more common as the business size increased; these include measures such as having a data security policy, restrictions on email or internet use by staff, encryption software and restrictions on portable data storage devices.
As in previous years, the most recent incidents of burglary and attempted burglary were fairly well reported to police, with 85pc of premises reporting incidents of burglary with entry and 71pc reporting incidents of attempted burglary to police according to the 2017 CVS. The high reporting rates for these crime types are likely to reflect the need for victims to get a crime reference number from the police, for an insurance claim. Of the business who said it depended on the circumstances whether they reported a shop theft, some of the most common factors that influenced whether a business reported an incident to the police included if a high value item was stolen (54pc of premises gave this as a reason), if the incident involved violence towards staff (23pc) and if the perpetrator was known (16pc).
The most common crime prevention measures installed at premises were protection of windows and doors (89pc of premises), protection of stock (84pc), burglar alarms (79pc) and outdoor measures (78pc). The latter typically included CCTV, security lighting and barbed wire fencing.
Separate reports cover farming and forestry; arts and entertainment; and manufacturing, besides wholesale and retail. For the CVS in full visit https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-against-businesses-findings-from-the-2017-commercial-victimisation-survey.
Comment
At the Association of Convenience Stores, ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The massive increase in assaults and threats reported in the Commercial Victimisation Survey is concerning but unfortunately not surprising. Retailers face the threat of verbal and physical abuse on a regular basis, often as a result of enforcing the law through preventing underage sales and challenging shop thieves.
“These are attacks on people doing their jobs providing a vital service in the local community, and these offences must be taken seriously police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners, the justice system and central government. We encourage retailers to ensure that they continue to report incidents when they occur.”
