As England crashed out of the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday (15 Jul 2026), retailers were experiencing their own losses in-store with shoplifting and violent incidents both rising on match-day, according to the latest figures from SAI, the leading active intelligence solution for stores.

Data from its SAI One Platform, which analyses insight from more than 1,000 UK retail locations and inputs from over 20,000 cameras every day, showed that shoplifting incidents rose by around +46% on the daily average ahead of the Three Lions’ Semi Final. 

This reflected the high levels seen throughout the tournament, with the England vs Norway match recording the highest levels of theft (+48% on the daily average), closely followed by England vs Argentina (+46%) and England vs DR Congo (+24%). 

On average, during England’s seven-game run in the tournament, match-days prompted a +23% rise in retail theft in-store.

The earlier kick-off time (8pm) of Wednesday’s game brought match-day footfall forward into stores’ peak trading hours, and is thought to have contributed towards the uptick in theft. Meanwhile, operational burden on stores also increased +12%.  

Heated exchanges on the pitch during the England-Argentina clash were also mirrored in-store, with violent incidents on Semi Final match-day rising +2%. However, instances of violence in-store didn’t climb to the levels seen when England took on Croatia in their first World Cup game, which represented the highest levels seen during the tournament, showing a +20% rise.

“Peak trading spikes like the World Cup can bring both risk and reward for retailers,” said Chris Bell, Head of Marketing & Insight at SAI.

“The challenge is making sure stores are prepared to capture the commercial opportunity without losing control of what is happening on the shop floor.”

“Using insight to anticipate where pressure is likely to build and identify possible problem points ahead of time allows retailers to act sooner, react faster and address issues in-store before they escalate,” he added.