There were 17% more incidents of theft or damage than in 2018, with customer theft constituting the vast majority. Customer theft – shoplifting from stores – now accounts for £770m, or 79%, of total losses to criminals.

The number of daily criminal incidents in retail rose 9% year on year to 424. Although the total number of daily acts of abuse and violence against shop staff has risen steadily since 2016, the number of violent incidents per day plateaued in 2019 at 100.

The BRC believes this is because colleagues are being told not to intervene, so they are less regularly engaging with potentially violent shoplifters. This, however, has an impact on the total cost of stolen goods.