CSO figures from 2014 show that theft from shop rose 2.6% to 20,265. The knock on effect on cost from this crime is high – both for the retailer and the customer.
In the real world, any retail outlet is never going to remove the incidents of shoplifting entirely, but there are steps that can be taken to reduce the attractiveness of the store to people who are intent on shoplifting.
Generally there are three factors that help the potential shoplifter decide where they will ply their trade.
- Does the shop security in general appear poor?
- Is there a good chance I’ll get away with shoplifting?
- If I am caught, will I be prosecuted?
Based on these three factors, a shop owner can decide to use visible deterrents such as signage indicating that there are electronic and physical measures in place such as tagging and CCTV, to prevent and detect shoplifting.
There should also be signage indicating that the proprietors of the store will push prosecution of shoplifters in all cases.
In addition, there are things that a retailer can do to make it physically more difficult to steal from the store – these will be outlined in my next post.
