Crime in the retail industry is costing billions of pounds each year. The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) 2006 Retail Crime Survey suggested that crime had cost retailers over GB pound 13bn since 2000, despite the industry having spent GB pound 4.3bn on security measures in that time.
Customer thefts alone were responsible for nearly GB pound 600 million in 2004.
Till snatches, violence against employees, assault, criminal damage and arson all cost the industry millions of pounds a year, yet the correct use of security technology could tackle these crimes head on if used properly and intelligently by retailers.
Retailers face huge consequences by not treating security as a priority, and it is more important than ever to learn how to use security technology astutely once the initial investment has been made.
Recent research from TAC has revealed that only nine per cent of retailers nationally treat security as a priority even though the figures from 2005 show that the spend by the retail industry on anti-theft measures was a massive GB pound 2.5bn.
According to the British Retail Consortium, more than a third of consumer spending in the UK is spent in shops and, surprisingly, sales over the internet account for less than four per cent of total retail sales, despite the internet’s growth in recent years.
If consumers still spend their money in retail outlets, this means that the traditional over-the-counter purchase is still the most popular way to shop and therefore needs to be the safest for customers and retail staff.
Get serious, retailers
The research instigated by TAC reveals that some retailers still do not take security seriously enough. The research was carried out across 10 major UK cities, asking nearly 200 retail managers from leading high street stores and supermarkets to rate the importance of security against a list of other retail issues.
The results were staggering and revealed that as many as 22 per cent rated security as the least important factor facing their day-to-day work. When asked to compare priorities to a list of issues including profit, recruitment, merchandising and competition, security was only a priority for nine per cent of retailers nationally.
These survey figures show that, although investment in security measures is high in the retail sector, profits will continue to be hit by crime until it is treated as a priority at all levels of the business. Retailers must ensure they make the most of the technology available to them in the fight against crime and ensure that their staff know how to make the best of the technology installed.
When looking at the results of the survey region by region, it is clear to see the correlation between retailers who do not prioritise security and the effect it has concerning crime in the region.
Cities where retail managers rated security as the least important priority were Liverpool, with a shockingly high 40 per cent result, then came Newcastle and Nottingham joint second, with 35 per cent of retail managers rating security as least important.
London came in third with 30 per cent. These figures mean that one in three retail managers do not count security in their stores as a priority. This is where the essence of the problem in the industry lies.
While these figures may initially appear arbitrary, there is some correlation between them and the number of deprived areas in the region. Coincidence or not, it does raise questions about the role of security and crime prevention in maintaining communities and limiting crime. The top three cities in the UK whose retail managers rated security as most important were Birmingham, closely followed by Manchester and Edinburgh.
However, even the best performing cities have only one in four managers taking security as seriously as they should be.
Shocking and surprising
As expected, electrical retailers, which carry the most expensive goods, came out on top with a quarter of retailers saying it was the most important issue they faced. Alongside that, however, an equal number also said security was the least important priority. Surprisingly, fashion retailers fared the worst in the survey, with fewer than one in ten managers rating security as the top priority. In the food sector only 14 per cent of supermarket retailers said security was the top priority.
This attitude is reflected in the problems we see with retailers’ use of technology.
Shops are dynamic environments that change all the time, yet frequently you’ll see cameras in the corners of the room that have never been moved to allow for changes in merchandising. Often the technology in place is absolutely fine but the set-up, positioning and even the camera lens are wrong.
The approach to security needs to be a bespoke one and retailers must turn to security providers that can go the extra mile – it should never be a case of simply installing some cameras and hoping for the best.
Retailers must look to protect their investment – both their products on sale and their annual spend on security solutions – by carrying out a full professional survey and risk assessment. Knowledge about the use and effectiveness of systems must then be filtered to staff on the shop floor.
Everyone is affected
Perhaps there is not a clear enough link between crime and the impact it has on profits. People make the mistake that retail crime is victimless and maybe that attitude has reached staff as well. However, crime hits everyone and as the BRC report said, can force businesses to close with employees losing their jobs – this point needs to be reinforced more strongly.
Finally, retailers must always consider meeting the needs of Police should a theft or break in occur.
This can be a problematic area, but it is one that must be a priority if crime is to be tackled effectively in the long run.
A common complaint is that police want any evidence presented to them on a plate – and if there are any gaps or flaws in what they are seeing, then prosecution is unlikely.
Security should be seen as a useful tool, not just a deterrent, so it makes perfect sense to ensure an expert has tailored a security system so it is doing its job correctly.
Security technology is within everyone’s reach, from a 4 channel DVX 500 for small or independent retailers, to an enterprise-wide Digital Sentry system for town centres and shopping malls.
Nowadays, customers are faced with a whole array of products to choose from, but for a smaller-scale retailer, the DVX 500 offers much more than entry-level digital CCTV technology. It is designed to provide retail businesses with a cost-effective solution that combines performance and ease of use.
For use in larger schemes, DS Enterprise is a scaleable, commercially-focussed digital video surveillance system, which accommodates an unlimited number of cameras in an unlimited number of locations – all administered and operated in remote control stations on a network.
However, unless security becomes a priority and is recognised as a fundamental part of retail management, we will continue to struggle in the fight against retail crime.
TAC can provide solutions that grow with a company, catering for anything from single retail units to networks across multi-site high street stores.