Tech retailer, Currys, has marked its own ‘Safety Week’ for store colleagues across the UK this week by announcing its biggest ever annual investment in store safety measures to safeguard colleagues and deter shoplifting.

With shoplifting is at a record high, research by Retail Insight suggested a third of shoppers had witnessed an instance of retail theft in the last 12months, while BRC figures suggest across the UK retailers face over 2,000 incidents a day. This is prompting retailers to turn to tech to help improve staff and customer saftey in-store, with Asda earlier this week saying it would trail live facial recognisition in five stores.

“UK retail crime statistics make for difficult reading, as incidents of shoplifting and aggression against retail workers continue to climb. These are not victimless crimes; the worst cases leave colleagues and customers injured and traumatised. That’s why I’m really pleased to roll out a number of new programmes to increase colleague and product security in our stores.”

Lindsay Haselhurst, COO, Currys

Currys is also turning to tech, and is implementing a wide range of new solutions and safety initiatives, representing its largest ever safety investment programme. These include:

Colleague headsets in all stores

Colleague headsets, which are currently being trialled across selected stores, are due to be rolled out to the entire store estate by the end of May. These keep Currys’ store associates better connected to each other and to shoppers, while being able to instantly talk to peers across large stores helps them feel safer, especially when confronted with shoplifters.

Increased crime reporting and accuracy with Auror software

Currys is partnering with Auror to launch software which speeds up and improves the accuracy of crime reporting, as well as Loss Prevention. It allows stores to share information on crimes and the perpetrators in a secure environment. This intelligence informs colleagues in stores about current threats, but also helps build cases for law enforcement intervention to make stores safer.  Currently in trial in two regions, Currys hopes to roll it out across its store network in early May 2025.

In-store security fixtures

Large scale investment is also being made in product security. Currys will balance the risk of shoplifting with enabling its customers to ‘see it, feel it, touch it’, which it considers to be a key benefit to its omnichannel offering, helping to bridge off-line / online buying journeys. For example, it plans to enhance security on laptop display stands in every store within the Currys estate. With new laptop clamps, the retailer ensures better security, without compromising CX for shoppers.