THE RETAIL BULLETIN - The home of retail news
Click here
Home Page
News Categories
Commentary
Department Stores
Electricals and Tech
Entertainment
Fashion
Food and Drink
General Merchandise
Grocery
Health and Beauty
Home and DIY
Interviews
People Matter
Retail Business Strategy
Property
Retail Solutions
Electricals & Technology
Sports and Leisure
Christmas Ads
Shopping Centres, High Streets & Retail Parks
Retail Events
People in Retail Awards 2024
Retail HR Central 2024
The Future of The High Street 2024
Retail HR Summit
THE Retail Conference
Upcoming Retail Events
Past Retail Events
Retail Insights
Retail Solutions
Advertise
About
Contact
Subscribe for free
Terms and Policies
Privacy Policy
Insight: new study reveals shoplifting hotspots

A new study has revealed the most popular locations targeted by criminals for shoplifting in the past year. Analysing the most recent official police data for… View Article

GENERAL MERCHANDISE NEWS

Insight: new study reveals shoplifting hotspots

A new study has revealed the most popular locations targeted by criminals for shoplifting in the past year.

Analysing the most recent official police data for England and Wales, LoveMyVouchers.co.uk found that the total number of shoplifting incidents in 2016 was up 7.6% from the previous year, with the recorded figure from January to December standing at 362,499.

When the results were weighted by population, Westminster was the area with the highest shoplifting rate. One incident was reported for every 58 people residing in the Westminster area. Notable hotspots included New Bond Street and the Regent Street area.

Other shopping areas with a high percentage of thefts by shoplifting included Middlesbrough, where one incident was reported per 64 people. This was followed by Newcastle with one incident per 65 people, and Norwich with one incident per 67 people.

The results show that the main hotspots in the UK tended to be shopping centres due to the concentrated number of shops and significant number of shoppers passing through. The shopping destination with the highest number of recorded incidents of shoplifting was Bluewater. One shoplifting crime was reported for every 39,000 visitors, based on an estimated annual footfall for the shopping centre of 28 million. Other shopping centres with high rates included the Stratford Centre and the Merry Hill Centre near Birmingham.

LoveMyVouchers.co.uk found that the Cleveland Police area had the highest shoplifting rate over any other police force in England and Wales as the number of incidents reported was high for such a small area. The main hotspots included the Marina in Hartlepool and the Cleveland Shopping Centre in Middlesbrough.

Linda Firth from LoveMyVouchers.co.uk said: “Shoplifting doesn’t just affect the retailers, it also affects consumers as the losses are typically recouped through higher retail prices. With such a high portion of the population already struggling to make ends meet, the affect of increasing retail prices to account for the costs of shoplifting could have a significant impact on budgets.”

The areas with the lowest shoplifting crime rates included Maldon where one incident was reported for every 1063 people in the population.

Subscribe For Retail News