Recession fuels increase in shoplifting

Shoplifting has increased more than expected as a result of the recession, research conducted by the Centre for Retail Research has revealed.
Professor Joshua Bamfield said that police figures show a clear increase in shoplifting in the UK in the past 12 months. The greatest increase is in the North East, where the crime is up by 22 per cent, while in London shoplifting is up 11 per cent compared with the previous year.
In his report, Is higher shrink inevitable in a global recession?, Professor Bamfield states that reports from both retailers and police show that as unemployment has risen, there has been an increase in retail crime.
The report refers to a European survey conducted by the Centre for Retail Research in January and February this year. It revealed that among the major retailers in Italy, Germany, the UK and France, almost 40 per cent had seen an increase in customer shoplifting as a result of the recession, compared to the previous six months.
Professor Bamfield believes that the recession, unemployment, uncertainty, lower incomes and fear of the future may make some people more willing to steal or overcome any reservations they may have about buying stolen goods.
He also suggests that some people may have the attitude that they are owed something from businesses and authorities who have “permitted by the banking crisis and created a global recession”, giving people some entitlement or justification to shoplift.
The trend in items that people are willing to steal has also changed. Although high-value products are still going missing from the shelves, retailers are reporting that as honest customers switch to lower cost ‘own-brand’ items, so shoplifters are also opting to steal cheaper items.