Shoppers are becoming increasingly desensitised to theft, with convenience stores and supermarkets the most common places they notice it, new data shows.
Seven in 10 shoppers now view theft as “normalised”, while 12% say they feel “indifferent” when witnessing crime in bricks & mortar stores, according to new research from SAI, a provider of AI-powered retail security and operations solutions.
The research, which surveyed 1,000 UK shoppers, found six in 10 shoppers noticed more incidents of crime in stores in the past year, rising to 72% of Gen Z.
Convenience stores and supermarkets are also where customers now notice the most incidents of theft, with the average shopper witnessing five incidents in the past 12 months.
SAI found that 28% of those surveyed had witnessed theft of everyday essentials, such as groceries, baby supplies and basic healthcare items, while 21% saw big-ticket items being stolen, such as clothing, electronics, and health & beauty items.
Organised crime is also becoming more prevalent and visible to customers. Two-thirds of consumers said organised retail crime had worsened in the last year, and 45% said they had witnessed goods seemingly being stolen to order in-store.
The British Retail Consortium estimated that retailers had invested over £5bn in the past five years on improved security measures, including CCTV and security staff.
SAI warned, however, that increasing normalisation of theft among shoppers highlighted “a core visibility gap” in physical retail, meaning many incidents were still going undetected, unreported or unaddressed.
Its data found that 60% of shoppers said stores suffered from blind spots, adding to the growing challenges for retailers fighting shrink, with a further 55% saying retail businesses don’t have full visibility of what is happening inside their stores.
Over half of those surveyed (56%) also believed that when tech is deployed, it often feels like no one is actively monitoring or managing what’s happening in-store.
“Growing shopper indifference towards retail crime isn’t just a worrying trend – it goes beyond a simple behavioural or consumer mindset shift,” said SAI CEO Som Sinha.
“This indifference to shoplifting is a symptom of the scale of the retail crime epidemic, which risks being left unchecked due to brick & mortar data gaps.
“When theft becomes expected, it also becomes overlooked, exposing the limits of traditional, reactive loss prevention and surveillance.
“Retailers need to move from passive observation to real-time prevention to change the underlying cause of shoplifting and materially evolve how retail crime is fought in the longer term.”
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