Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
Bira (the British Independent Retailers Association) said this week that shoplifters in the UK are becoming increasingly “emboldened” and appear to be often orchestrated by organised criminal groups.
These groups steal to order, fuelling a growing black-market trade in various goods, including cheese and meat.
Retail experts have expressed concern over the rise of these “grab-and-go” raids and their impact on businesses.
Bira chief executive Andrew Goodacre said: “In the past, shop theft has been dominated by people who have probably got unfortunately chaotic lives, some sort of dependency on drugs and alcohol, and shoplifting has been a way of sourcing that addiction.
“But what we’re seeing now is a more organised approach.
“Maybe it’s the cost-of-living crisis that has created a black market that has suddenly become more lucrative than it was previously.
“But there seems to be a more organised approach to some of the thefts that are taking place.”
Goodacre said there appeared to be a thriving black market in even basic foodstuffs and retailers were being forced to tag such items, although this only alerted them to theft and did not necessarily prevent it happening.
