Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer have painted a pessimistic picture of the increasing impact retailers face from crime, reflecting latest figures that show the cost to businesses is rising along with violence and verbal abuse.
Both companies told delegates at the BRC’s Crime Conference in London, which coincided with the release of its crime survey, that crime was on the up and there was an increasing need to invest in new technology to fight it.
Sainsbury director of profit protection Chris Holland, who left M&S to take up the newly created post in March, said that retail crime was being pushed up the agenda at Sainsbury. “Crime hits profits. One per cent of our £17bn turnover is a lot of money.”
He said working with other retailers to share information could be a big step forward. “We don’t share any data, we’re very bad at it. We don’t tell M&S, we don’t tell anyone anything and we should. We spend a lot of non-retail time on internal theft and then these people just go
and work in Waitrose.”
M&S head of profit protection Steve Frame agreed that there was little good news when it came to customer theft.
“At M&S we’re coming up against double-digit growth in this area. We are looking at investing further in fraud protection and technology integration. We are investing quite a bit of money this year and next as the improved efficiencies are worth it.”
Similarly, Sainsbury is investing more in data mining of Epos and in data integration to identify anomalies, such as credit cards being used more than once in 24 hours.
Police inconsistency was also a big issue. “Retailers are perceived as not doing enough to combat crime,” said Holland. “I believe we’re doing more than enough. Is it our job to police society? If this offence were committed outside then it would be higher profile.Taking witness statements isn’t and shouldn’t be our core service; that’s the job of the police.”
Home Office minister Hazel Blears said retail crime was now higher on the government’s agenda. “It hasn’t shot up, but there is more engagement.”
>> p28 BRC retail crime survey
Rachel Barnes
Both companies told delegates at the BRC’s Crime Conference in London, which coincided with the release of its crime survey, that crime was on the up and there was an increasing need to invest in new technology to fight it.
Sainsbury director of profit protection Chris Holland, who left M&S to take up the newly created post in March, said that retail crime was being pushed up the agenda at Sainsbury. “Crime hits profits. One per cent of our £17bn turnover is a lot of money.”
He said working with other retailers to share information could be a big step forward. “We don’t share any data, we’re very bad at it. We don’t tell M&S, we don’t tell anyone anything and we should. We spend a lot of non-retail time on internal theft and then these people just go
and work in Waitrose.”
M&S head of profit protection Steve Frame agreed that there was little good news when it came to customer theft.
“At M&S we’re coming up against double-digit growth in this area. We are looking at investing further in fraud protection and technology integration. We are investing quite a bit of money this year and next as the improved efficiencies are worth it.”
Similarly, Sainsbury is investing more in data mining of Epos and in data integration to identify anomalies, such as credit cards being used more than once in 24 hours.
Police inconsistency was also a big issue. “Retailers are perceived as not doing enough to combat crime,” said Holland. “I believe we’re doing more than enough. Is it our job to police society? If this offence were committed outside then it would be higher profile.Taking witness statements isn’t and shouldn’t be our core service; that’s the job of the police.”
Home Office minister Hazel Blears said retail crime was now higher on the government’s agenda. “It hasn’t shot up, but there is more engagement.”
>> p28 BRC retail crime survey
Rachel Barnes
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