John Lewis chair, Sharon White, has addressed the retailers rising incidents of theft fueled by the cost-of-living crisis, warning that criminals “have a licence to shoplift.”
Last week, the John Lewis Partnership said that while it could not “speculate on the reasons,” it was seeing “rising numbers of shoplifting offences – often by organised gangs, as well as anti-social behaviour,” at Waitrose.
As a result, White has urged politicians in Westminster to follow Scotland in introducing legislation that gives shop workers better protection against threats and abuse in England.
She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “One of the big issues for John Lewis is staff safety. Gangs and shoplifters have become much bolder given some of the cost of living pressures.
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“I have lost count of the number of times I have visited John Lewis or Waitrose branches in England and been told that the police simply don’t have the time or resource to respond to a shoplifting incident.”
White added that there had been a 26% rise in crime, while data from the British Retail Consortium has found that over 850 incidents of violence or abuse towards shop workers is recorded on a daily basis.
The BRC also recorded that retailers spent £715m on crime prevention since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a bid to deter shoplifters, John Lewis sister company, Waitrose, introduced a new ‘love-bombing’ technique earlier this month, which aims to tackle in-store theft by having workers be extra mindful of customers and attending to their every need.
The upmarket retailer is training staff to be “extra attentive, causing thieves to think twice”, including by asking if help is needed at self-checkouts.
