As a result of its increasing prevalence on high streets, shoppers are becoming increasingly desensitised to incidents of shoplifting - now viewing store thefts as ‘normal’ - according to research from active intelligence solution provider for stores, SAI.
With data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing retailers reported 509,566 shoplifting incidents over the past year, SAI’s new original research of 1,000 UK shoppers reveals almost seven in ten (68%) now view theft as a ‘normalised’ behaviour and expect it to take place in-store.
With the shoplifting scourge showing no sign of easing, more than one in ten (12%) shoppers said they now feel ‘indifferent’ to witnessing crime when shopping in bricks-and-mortar locations.
With the average shopper witnessing a shocking four incidents a year in stores, six in ten (61%) of those polled by SAI have noticed more incidents of crime in-store in the last 12 months, rising to 72% of Gen Z.
Disturbingly, convenience and grocery stores are where customers now notice the most incidents of theft, averaging five instances in the last 12 months.
Gen Z shoppers witnessed even more shoplifting incidents than the average shopper (seven vs five instances), as did higher earners, who reported seeing more than double the number of crime incidents compared to the average shopper (ten vs five) over the past year.
Additionally, as cost of living pressures continue, over a quarter (28%) of UK shoppers say they’ve witnessed theft of everyday essentials such as groceries, baby supplies and basic healthcare items, while over a fifth (21%) have witnessed big-ticket items being stolen.
Organised crime is also becoming more prevalent and visible to a growing number of customers who have witnessed ‘theft to order’.
SAI’s research also warns that the increasing normalisation of theft among shoppers highlights a core visibility gap in physical retail, meaning many incidents still go undetected, unreported or unaddressed.
Som Sinha, CEO of SAI, said: “Growing shopper indifference towards retail crime isn’t just a worrying trend - it goes beyond a simple behavioural or consumer mindset shift.
“This indifference to shoplifting is a symptom of the scale of the retail crime epidemic…”
“This indifference to shoplifting is a symptom of the scale of the retail crime epidemic, which risks being left unchecked due to bricks-and-mortar data gaps.
“When theft becomes expected, it also becomes overlooked, exposing the limits of traditional, reactive loss prevention and surveillance. Retailers need to move from passive observation to real-time prevention to change the underlying cause of shoplifting and materially evolve how retail crime is fought in the longer-term.”
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