Unwelcome trend as shoppers return to bricks and mortar stores

The return to bricks and mortar stores after COVID-19 lockdown has come with an unwelcome trend for the retail sector — a shoplifting surge.

Managing director of Marketing Focus, Barry Urquart, says most people aren’t comfortable reporting shoplifting, or confronting shoplifters, so recidivism is “quite pronounced”.

At Myer, theft in December lept to a five-year high of 1.7 per cent.

Despite the surge, Mr Urquart says retailers are still keen to entice people back to physical stores.

“34 cents in the dollar is still spent on impulse, therefor the retailers are enticing people at the point of purchase … Online purchasing is very much devoid of emotion,” he told Ross and Russel.

Press PLAY below to hear what’s behind the rise in shoplifting