As England crashed out of the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday night, retailers were experiencing their own losses in-store, with shoplifting and violent incidents both rising on matchday, according to the latest figures from store intelligence company, SAI.
Its data from more than 1,000 UK retail locations and over 20,000 cameras every day, showed shoplifting incidents rose by around 46% on the daily average ahead of the Three Lions’ Semi Final.
This reflected the high levels seen throughout the tournament, with the England vs Norway match recording the highest levels (up 48% on the daily average), closely followed by England vs Argentina and England vs DR Congo (up 24%). On average, during England’s seven-game run in the tournament, matchdays prompted a 23% rise in retail theft.
The earlier kick-off time (8pm) of Wednesday’s game brought matchday footfall forward into stores’ peak trading hours, and is thought to have contributed towards the uptick in theft. Meanwhile, operational burden on stores also increased by 12%.
Heated exchanges on the pitch during the England-Argentina clash were also mirrored in stores, with violent incidents on the Semi Final matchday rising by 2%. However, instances of violence in-store didn’t climb to the levels seen when England took on Croatia in their first World Cup game, which represented the highest levels seen during the tournament, showing a 20% rise.
“Peak trading spikes like the World Cup can bring both risk and reward for retailers.”
Chris Bell, head of marketing and insight at SAI, said: “Peak trading spikes like the World Cup can bring both risk and reward for retailers. The challenge is making sure stores are prepared to capture the commercial opportunity without losing control of what’s happening on the shop floor.”
“Using insight to anticipate where pressure is likely to build and identify possible problem points ahead of time allows retailers to act sooner, react faster and address issues in-store before they escalate,” Bell concluded.
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