Britain’s shops collectively lose £800 million per year due to shoplifting, according to data derived from data.police.co.uk. OnBuy.com investigated the total number of offences that were recorded by 43 police forces/constabularies across England and Wales in the financial year April 2016-March 2017.

Research revealed that the Metropolitan Police had the highest number of shoplifting offences at 47,580 – the equivalent of 130 incidents a day, closely followed by West Midlands Police with 19,741 and Greater Manchester Police with 18,002.

City of London Police reported the lowest number of shoplifting cases with 729 – the equivalent of two every day. Dyfed-Powys Police had more than double the figure of City of London with 1,533; while Cumbria Constabulary had 2,819 incidences.

“Considering the amount of time and energy that shops put into running various aspects of their operation daily, shoplifting is really an unfortunate occurrence for them,” said OnBuy.com managing director Cas Paton. “While it may feel unavoidable, shops can take various steps to prevent shoplifters from targeting them including better staff training to identify potential offenders and storing high value items more securely”.

“Train employees to watch out for behaviours which shoplifters typically display such as paying more attention to their surroundings than the items, repeatedly picking up then putting down the same item(s) and ignoring attempts to help or engage with them.

Have one employee always at the front of the shop greeting customers as they come in. This will be a clear indication to any potential shoplifter(s) that staff are aware of them and paying attention to their actions/behaviour.

“Carefully identify items which are most likely to be stolen, either through previous experiences or because of their high value and take the necessary precautions to make them a harder target for shoplifters through storing them in cabinets with locks or keeping them behind the counter.

“Displaying an adequate number of signs throughout the store clearly stating ‘shoplifters will be prosecuted’ will demonstrate your firm stance on the matter; while those which say the store is protected by security cameras (even if they can’t be visibly seen), will deter shoplifters by making them aware they are actively being monitored.

“Where possible use low-level aisles so that staff can see customers at all times. Identify blind spots and then use mirrors to provide a vantage point in these areas. Bright lighting will also help to deter potential shoplifters”.