See someone “sampling” a few too many grapes at the grocery store, using obvious counterfeit coupons to get something for nothing, or stuffing items into their pockets with no intention of paying? Turn them in, and one retailer is offering to reward you with a discount on your next purchase.
The unusual idea of crowdsourcing anti-shoplifting enforcement is coming from the British grocery chain Iceland. And if it works for them, could your Kroger, Walmart or other local store be next?
“We will give a pound to any customer who points out a shoplifter. We’ll put it on their Bonus Card,” Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker said in an interview on the UK’s Channel 5 News. Shoppers don’t have to confront the shoplifter themselves, he said. Just inform the nearest store employee, who will verify the incident and then add the reward to the informant’s loyalty card. Easy as that!
If it seems a sneaky, somewhat dangerous, and slightly desperate attempt to stop shoplifters, it comes as shoplifting incidents are on the rise. Recently-released government figures show that shoplifting offenses in England and Wales soared by 20% last year, reaching the highest level on record.
The situation is somewhat better – or a whole lot worse – in the U.S., depending on whom you ask. The Council on Criminal Justice recently found that the number of shoplifting incidents so far this year is down from the same time last year. “Retail theft, especially organized retail theft, has received extensive media coverage and has caught the attention of state and federal policymakers,” the CCJ noted. But most incidents are small-scale, nonviolent and still fewer than in pre-pandemic 2019.
A recent report by the National Retail Federation, however, was far more pessimistic. “Retailers reported a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 versus 2019,” the NRF announced late last year. Its survey of retail loss prevention and security executives found that “shoplifters are exhibiting more violence and aggression than they were a year ago,” and that “multi-person theft incidents are also on the rise.”
Some see shoplifting as “a victimless crime,” Iceland’s Walker said. “It is not. It keeps prices from being lowered, because it’s a cost to the business.” He said theft costs his company the equivalent of $27 million a year, which could be used to pay employees or invest in prices. “So we’d like our customers to help us lower our prices even more by pointing out shoplifters.”
Reaction among Iceland shoppers to Walker’s offer is mixed. Some complained that one pound isn’t much of a reward. “You are saving them potentially a lot of money, and you are offered just one pound?” one online commenter wrote. “Cheaper than paying security, I suppose,” another scoffed. A third customer worried that “the thugs will know it is you, and will catch you” for ratting them out.
But others are more optimistic about the plan, with one calling it “a proactive approach, that hopefully will start to make a difference.” To people’s complaints about the reward being just one pound, “what are other supermarkets offering? Exactly,” another commenter retorted.
Still others seem to see the offer as a challenge. “I’m just gonna sit in Iceland 8 hours a day now” looking for shoplifters to report, one customer said – presumably joking about amassing many rewards for catching many wrongdoers.
The UK government’s policing minister recently warned civilians against confronting shoplifters, and said retailers should do more to deter criminal behavior, such as investing in more staff, limiting the use of self-checkouts, and putting high-value items further from the store entrance so they can’t be grabbed so easily.
Oh, and siccing their customers on the bad guys.
“Retailers are working hard to provide a safe and secure shopping environment, despite the daily occurrence of shoplifting and the threat of violence against their employees and customers,” the NRF stated in announcing its survey results. “However, this is not a problem that retailers alone can solve.”
So while the NRF is calling on federal lawmakers to help, one grocery chain is instead turning to its own customers for assistance. Offering loyalty rewards for catching criminals could prove to be the ultimate test, of just how loyal its customers really are. And then, Iceland hopes, with safer stores, lower prices, higher profits and happy shoppers, everyone will win. Except the shoplifters.
Image source: Iceland
