Shoplifting and retail crime are top of the agenda for this morning’s papers, thanks to new report from the British Retail Consortium. The Financial Times leads with the stat that shoplifting cost UK businesses a record £2.2bn last year.
It reports that more than 20m incidents were registered in the first 8 months of 2024. Chief executive Helen Dickinson said crime levels in stores – including violence and abuse against staff – was “spiralling out of control” as the figures reached an all-time high, climbing to more than 2,000 each day, up from 1,300 the previous year. In 2020, just 455 incidents were reported.
The story was also picked up by the BBC, which described retail crime as being “out of control”, focusing on the BRC’s comments that shoplifters are becoming increasingly upfront and aggressive due to a lack of consequences.
The Beeb’s report went on to outline a number of examples of the “outrageous and out of control” events, highlighting social media videos which show shoplifting, taking place in plain sight of other shoppers and in front of both store staff and security officers.
Yesterday afternoon’s news was dominated by the surprising news that Tesco was the latest supermarket to join in with the new year job cut announcements, just 21 days after it had announced its “biggest Christmas ever”. Broken by The Grocer in the morning, it wasn’t long before news of Tesco’s internal “simplification” was dominating the headlines.
Britain’s largest grocer said the redundancies – which spanned stores, bakeries and head office – were a result of the “more competitive than ever” market, as it followed in the steps of Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
Ongoing cost-cutting at supermarkets has continued to be a key cause of concern, as Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh has warned that the retailer may be forced to continue trimming the business in the wake of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax increases on employers announced in last year’s October budget.
Jobs are at risk elsewhere in retail as well, this time at the Post Office, as it prepares to cut 100 jobs in order to boost payouts to thousands of its postmasters following the Horizon IT scandal.
Acting CEO Neil Brocklehurst told staff that the changes were designed to ”create a more efficient team that can effectively deliver a sustainable future for the network, for postmasters and their communities”.
In more upbeat news, Lidl has won a legal battle to open its first ever in-store pub, after a court in Northern Ireland approved plans for a fully-licensed pub to be opened inside the Dundonald branch of the supermarket.
A judge ruled on Monday this week that the plans could go ahead, dismissing complaints from another trader, as he saw “no good reason for refusing the application”. The pub is expected to seat around 45 customers as well as an off-licence, allowing customers to buy draft and bottled beer, wine, cider and spirits.
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