Retailers hit by subdued October as Budget threat looms Retail UK retailers suffered a “subdued” October as Brits tightened their pockets ahead of what is expected to be a tax-heavy Autumn Budget. Retail sales increased 1.6 per cent year-on-year but remained below the 12-month average of 2.1 per cent, marking the weakest growth since May. The new data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and [...]
Violence against retail workers ‘unacceptable and untenable’ Retail More than a quarter of retail workers say that they have experienced physically aggressive or violent behaviour in their current jobs as the UK continues to battle a years-long fight against high-street crime. More than one in five retail workers in London have to deal with an angry customer ‘every day’, according to research by [...]
Palo Alto rallies on M&S hacks, but earnings fail to woo investors Tech A spate of high profile cyber incidents on British retailers, including Co-op, Harrods, and most notably, Marks and Spencer, has placed cybersecurity spend back in the limelight – and Palo Alto is reaping the costs. Yet, investors are digesting a mix set of quarterly results revealed on Thursday. Ben Barringer, global tech analyst at Quilter [...]
As retail crime soars, is better tech the answer? April 24, 2025 Retail crime has soared by a fifth year-on-year, with retailers now questioning how to deal with extremely high shrinkage amid already-thin margins. Shoplifting offences rose by 20 per cent to 516,971 offences in December, up from 429,873 offences last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The effect is a whole lot of shrink. [...]
Starmer needs to “smash the gangs” behind shoplifting and phone theft March 12, 2025 The clip shared on social media yesterday by the BBC’s Nicky Campbell was unremarkable only because variations of it can be seen every day. Two men frantically empty shop shelves of cosmetics, pouring them into large bags while onlookers film the outrageous scene. They make no effort to hide their faces and when their bags are [...]
Retail crime ‘spiralling out of control’ despite £1.8bn spent on protection January 30, 2025 Retail crime is “spiralling out of control”, hitting a new high last year despite billions spent on protection. Losses from customer theft reached a record £2.2bn, while retail violence and abuse increased over 50 per cent to more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Annual Crime Survey. More than [...]