TJ Morris, the company behind Home Bargains, is tackling shop theft by displaying images of suspected shoplifters in its stores and on its website.
Shop theft costs TJ Morris an estimated £6m a year and the discounter, which has 190 stores, hopes its Crime Busters initiative will help to catch suspected criminals and discourage others from shoplifting.
The retailer is displaying CCTV images of six suspected shoplifters in Home Bargains stores in June and July on its website. The company has set up a confidential hotline and is offering rewards of up to £500 for information leading to an arrest and successful prosecution. The images are also being displayed in the windows of the stores the people are suspected of stealing from.
"This is another way for us to reduce shrinkage," said operations director Joe Morris. "We work hard to reduce shrinkage and have spent a lot of money on CCTV. This will hopefully make those tempted to shoplift think again."
Home Bargains said it had discussed the Crime Busters initiative with the police and was confident innocent shoppers would not find themselves on the website or on posters.
"We are only doing this when we are very confident there has been an incident and we have strong evidence against the person," Morris said. "If they believe they are innocent, we will be happy to go through the evidence with them."
Crime Busters will also be used to publicise other crimes against the company, including vandalism and break-ins. In one case on the Home Bargains website, the company is asking for witnesses after a customer's car was vandalised in the car park of its Coatbridge store.
The discounter also has an internal loss prevention team in place to prevent shrinkage and works with a civil prosecution company to prosecute shoplifters.
"We want to show that we won't just roll over if people come to our stores to commit a crime," Morris added. "We will do, and are doing, as much as we can to prevent it."
Shop theft costs TJ Morris an estimated £6m a year and the discounter, which has 190 stores, hopes its Crime Busters initiative will help to catch suspected criminals and discourage others from shoplifting.
The retailer is displaying CCTV images of six suspected shoplifters in Home Bargains stores in June and July on its website. The company has set up a confidential hotline and is offering rewards of up to £500 for information leading to an arrest and successful prosecution. The images are also being displayed in the windows of the stores the people are suspected of stealing from.
"This is another way for us to reduce shrinkage," said operations director Joe Morris. "We work hard to reduce shrinkage and have spent a lot of money on CCTV. This will hopefully make those tempted to shoplift think again."
Home Bargains said it had discussed the Crime Busters initiative with the police and was confident innocent shoppers would not find themselves on the website or on posters.
"We are only doing this when we are very confident there has been an incident and we have strong evidence against the person," Morris said. "If they believe they are innocent, we will be happy to go through the evidence with them."
Crime Busters will also be used to publicise other crimes against the company, including vandalism and break-ins. In one case on the Home Bargains website, the company is asking for witnesses after a customer's car was vandalised in the car park of its Coatbridge store.
The discounter also has an internal loss prevention team in place to prevent shrinkage and works with a civil prosecution company to prosecute shoplifters.
"We want to show that we won't just roll over if people come to our stores to commit a crime," Morris added. "We will do, and are doing, as much as we can to prevent it."
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