Retailers, policing bodies and businesses have united to support #ShopKind Week (30 June to 6 July).
The campaign encourages kind behaviour in shops and acknowledges the essential role of shop workers in our communities, while also raising awareness about the scale and impact of abuse they face.
It is coordinated by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) on behalf of the UK Home Office, with support from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and shopworkers union Usdaw.
The campaign comes at a crucial time for the industry as the Crime and Policing Bill continues to pass through Parliament.
The Bill introduces a variety of measures to protect c-stores and tackle retail crime. These include increasing police presence in neighbourhoods and high streets, introducing a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker and using interventions to help take offenders out of the cycle of reoffending.
Figures from USDAW found 77% of shopworkers were verbally abused and 53% were threatened at work over the last year.
To help promote the campaign, retailers can download posters and social media assets from the official National Business Crime Centre website.
Retailers can also develop their own assets as long as they follow the brand guidelines, which are available here.
Commenting on the campaign, Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson, said: “Stealing from shops and abusing retail staff is unacceptable and the government wholeheartedly supports the #ShopKind campaign”.
James Lowman, ACS chief executive, said: “We are proud to deliver the #ShopKind campaign this year and are grateful for the widespread support it has received from across the sector and our customers.
”We hope that the campaign reminds everyone to be considerate to shopworkers, and that it will continue to raise awareness about the violence and abuse that they face when serving their communities.”
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary, said: “Usdaw very much welcomes the #ShopKind campaign, which brings together voices from across the retail sector, politicians and the police to promote a message of respect for retail workers. These are key workers delivering essential services in every community and we stand together to say that abuse should not be a part of their job.”
Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive of the BRC, said: “As the number of incidents of violence and abuse against our hard-working retail colleagues rises, the #ShopKind campaign is more important than ever. Victims are ordinary people - teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare.
”It is unacceptable that any of these people should ever go to work fearing for their safety. We remind customers to shop kind and be respectful to retail workers and fellow customers.”
Paul Gerrard, director of campaigns and public affairs at Co-op, said: “Co-op is dedicated to the need for healthy and more resilient high streets, where people and communities can thrive and grow, and where anti-social behaviour, abuse, and violence has no place.
”We are seeing improvements with greater collaboration between businesses, policing and, Government action including the creation of a standalone offence for assaulting a shop worker, the scrapping of the £200 limit for shop theft and, commitments to tackling neighbourhood crime. Co-op supports the #Shopkind campaign.”
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