Shoplifting presents a significant financial burden. Staff morale is drastically impacted. The ripple effect on those witnessing crime and violence is costly.
But retailers, in collaboration with policymakers, are making strides to tackle the problem.
Crime is high on the boardroom agenda. Retailers are committing significant resources and investment to technology, operational and people solutions to mitigate loss, reduce churn and support the wellbeing of their colleagues.
But many challenges remain.
So where should retailers focus to protect both profits and people?
Retail Week’s Retail Crime and Colleague Safety Summit galvanises the sector to tackle the biggest challenges facing store teams head-on.
Register to attend with your teams on Wednesday 10 February, 8.30am-5pm at 1 America Square, London.
The Retail Crime and Colleague Safety Summit brings together peers from across the retail ecosystem to collaborate, share best practice and workshop the biggest issues facing the sector.
Previous attendees include colleagues from Tesco, Boots, Ikea, Currys, Sainsbury's, Primark, B&Q, John Lewis Partnership, Lush, Dunelm, H&M and more, working in senior roles spanning security, risk, profit and asset protection, health and safety, business transformation, operations, finance, stores and people functions.
Wednesday 10th February 2027
Speaker to be announced soon...
As retailers strengthen protection around traditionally high-risk goods, criminals are adapting fast, targeting products, and vulnerabilities across the store supply chain.
In this session we'll explore:
- Where the threats are emerging next – from final-mile delivery theft and customer fraud to colleague theft
- The impact of AI on shrink, including the rise of AI-powered returns fraud
- How retailers can stay one step ahead without compromising CX or colleague trust
Organised retail crime is becoming more sophisticated, coordinated and commercially driven.
So how can retailers combat the attack?
In this discussion we explore the case study of a leading retailer and industry expert to uncover:
- The steps retailers are taking to protect themselves from repeat offenders
- What's driving organised crime, from cost-of-living pressures and theft-to-order models to the role of digital resale platforms
- Whether new legal frameworks, stronger enforcement and better industry wide data sharing will meaningfully disrupt organised crime networks
Retail crime remains frequent, visible and under-reported. Does this mean it's being accepted as an unavoidable cost of doing business?
In this conversation, we will cover:
- What the true psychological toll of crime is on retail workers
- Who is ultimately paying for this tolerance threshold –the retailer, colleagues or customer?
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What’s leading to under-reporting and how can retailers can buck the trend?
As the legal, reputational and operational risks around colleague safety intensify, protecting frontline retail teams can no longer sit solely with HR or store operations teams.
Here we will explore:
- What does the Employment Rights Act mean for safeguarding in-store teams?
- Where does the duty of care end, and what constitutes “all reasonable steps” to prevent employee risk?
- Case studies from retailers going the extra mile to support colleague safety
Defensive merchandising certainly helps to reduce crime – but can you design safer stores that still feel welcoming, accessible and offer elevated experiences, without burdening staff with increased workload?
In this session we explore the next generation of store layouts, product protection, staffing models and customer journeys successfully reducing risk before incidents escalate.
We will cover:
- Which in-store merchandising choices work to reduce theft and violence
- Case studies from retailers protecting high-risk categories without making stores feel locked down
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How to find the balance between necessary prevention and excellent customer experience
Retailers have made significant investment in security technologies, physical deterrents, colleague training and reporting tools – but is the spend translating to equally safer stores, lower incident rates and greater colleague confidence?
Here we will explore:
- Which tools and tech retailers have invested in the most heavily
- How these investments align with incident rates and violent crime reduction
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What offers a real measure of ROI across colleague safety
Topics to be revealed soon...
Speaker to be announced soon...
As the day of content has demonstrated, tackling retail crime is only becoming more complex.
This session will examine whether retailers, police, government and third-party platforms are truly working together towards a shared prevention agenda – or currently tackling the problem in silos.
We will explore:
- The biggest barriers to meaningful collaboration
- The missing links between response and prevention
- How to effectively work nationally, not just locally
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What a more joined-up retail crime ecosystem could look like in 3 years’ time
The Retail Trust's consumer-facing Let’s Respect Retail campaign urges shoppers to show respect for retail staff, through simple gestures such as saying hello, thank you or smiling. as abuse levels soar on the shop floor.
The campaign follows research results collected by the charity, which found that over three-quarters of shop staff had experienced intimidating behaviour in the last year and a quarter were physically assaulted.
Get involved
Are you a retailer or retail brand with a great story to tell? If you are interested in speaking at one of Retail Week's Retail Crime and Colleague Safety events please contact Senior Commercial Content Editor, Rebecca Taylor
Are you a partner supporting retailers? Retail Week's Retail Crime and Colleague Safety events can provide exclusive speaking opportunities, targeted lead generation and brand awareness among a captive audience. Share your insights with retailers and position yourself as a thought leader in the space.
Contact Retail Week’s Commercial team to find out more about the sponsorship packages