Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that shoplifting offences in England and Wales rose +20% year-on-year, with more than half a million instances recorded in the 12months to December 2024.

A total of 516,971 retail theft offences were reported to police last year, compared to 429,873 in the previous year, marking the highest number of shoplifting instances since records began. Meanwhile, data from Retail Insight suggested that last year a third of shoppers (30%) witnessed an instance of retail theft, rising to 44% of consumers in London, with the average customer witnessing four shoplifting incidents.

Speaking to Talking Retail, Paddy Lillis, General Secretary of the retail union Usdaw, said the “shocking” number of recorded offences “laid bare the scale of the retail crime epidemic.” In January, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Chief Executive, Helen Dickinson, warned that retail crime was “spiralling out of control,” as the BRC launched its Annual Crime Survey. It showed retailers were spending £1.8billion pounds on crime prevention measures, a rise of +52% on the previous year, in a bid to protect customers and colleagues.

At the end of last month, Asda begun testing Live Facial Recognition at five stores in Greater Manchester, as the supermarket sought to assess how the technology could improve in-store safety and prevent theft. However, it has since faced backlash from customers and campaign group, Big Brother Watch, with The Grocer reporting the supermarket had received over 5,000 complaints over the use of the technology.

Tech retailer, Currys, also marked its own ‘Safety Week’ for store colleagues across the UK in early April, announcing its biggest ever annual investment in store safety measures to safeguard colleagues and deter shoplifting. The investment includes rolling out headsets for colleagues in all stores, deployment of Auror software for increased crime reporting and accuracy and in-store security fixtures.