As incidents of shoplifting hit 2,000 a day, tech retailer Currys is running a nationwide ‘Safety Week’ with new measures to help keep colleagues safe and deter shoplifters.
Shoplifting is at a record high, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), with over 2,000 incidents a day which is traumatic for both colleagues and customers in store.
Currys, alongside other retailers and the BRC, have campaigned for a new law making assaulting a retail worker a standalone crime. However, the retailer stressed a new law alone without sufficient enforcement and police presence will not eradicate the problem overnight. Its nationwide ‘Safety Week’ is therefore designed to highlight the initiatives coming to improve colleague safety, whilst also encouraging them to share their views and concerns on a key focus area for the retailer.
Currys is also implementing a range of new technologies, including upgraded specification Public Display Monitors in high-risk stores. It is trialling and rolling out new innovative approaches to product security, alongside investment in intelligence collection and analysis, and increased spend on guarding and surveillance.
Colleague Headsets in All Stores
Colleague headsets are currently being trialled across selected stores and rolled out to all stores by the end of May.
The tech will keep colleagues better connected and therefore safer on the shop floor. Feedback from the in-store trial so far has been positive, with colleagues noting that being able to instantly talk to their peers across large stores makes them feel safer, especially when confronted with shoplifters.
It is also improving in-store experience for customers, who can request assistance by clicking a button at the store front that notifies the shop floor team via their headsets.
Increased Reporting and Accuracy
Currys is partnering with Auror to introduce crime reporting software. The platform speeds up and improves the accuracy of crime reporting, driving focus on repeat offenders to prevent crime & reduce loss. Stores can share information on crimes and the perpetrators in a secure environment. This is then matched and connections made between offences across the UK.
This intelligence sharing not only informs and guides colleagues in stores about current threats, but also helps build cases for law enforcement intervention ultimately making stores safer places to work and shop in. The platform is currently in trial across two regions with the hope to roll it out across the remaining estate in early May this year.
In-Store Security Fixture Enhancements
Additional and appropriate levels of protection will be phased into product ranges in each store. Using a data-led approach, Currys will balance the risk of shoplifting with enabling its customers to see it, feel it, touch it – the latter, considered a key benefit to Currys’ omnichannel model.
One such investment is an additional spend on enhancing security on laptop display stands in every store within the Currys estate. With new laptop clamps, the retailer ensures better security, without compromising the customer experience as well as other layers of protection. The new security has already been tested widely and seen remarkable results in reducing numbers of aggressive thefts. The wider roll out is due to commence next week.
Lindsay Haselhurst, Currys chief operating officer, said: “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, and welcome the new Crime and Policing Bill legislation. However, we know there is much more to be done and this must be a collaborative effort with all involved, including local police forces and Government.”
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