By: Steven Moore, managing director – Security UK, OCS
Retail crime in the UK is spiralling. The British Retail Consortium reports more than 20 million theft incidents in 2023/24 – equating to around 55,000 incidents every single day. Losses have climbed to £2.2bn, despite a record of £1.8bn being spent on prevention. Violence and abuse against retail staff has also surged to over 2,000 incidents per day. These numbers pain a clear picture: the traditional security playbook is failing.
Why guarding alone no longer works
For decades, retailers have leaned on a guarding model built around low-cost labour and static CCTV. However, this is just a blunt instrument in the face of a fast-moving, increasingly sophisticated and persistent threat landscape.
Today’s offenders exploit friction-light checkout journeys, target high-value categories, and operate across multiple sites. A lone security officer cannot realistically detect or disrupt these patterns in real-time. Policy changes, such as the Retail Crime Action Plan and proposals for a standalone offence for assaulting retail workers are welcome but legislation alone does not change the operational reality. Crime happens fast, and increasingly, it occurs at self-checkout stations in retail stores – where friction-light processes and limited supervision create ideal conditions for theft.
Self-checkout: the epicentre of risk
Self-checkout has transformed convenience, but it has also concentrated risk. The numbers are stark: shrink at self-checkout can run several times higher than staffed lanes, and partial-shrink – where customers pay for some items but not all – is now a common tactic.
For retailers, the financial impact is hard to ignore. Research from Deloitte suggests that self-scan accounts for up to a quarter of total loss in UK supermarkets, rising to almost 40% for mobile ‘scan and pay’. Even major retailers investing heavily in prevention – such as body-worn video and fortified kiosks – report crime at high levels.
The answer is not to abandon self-checkout. Customers expect speed, and retailers need flexibility. But it’s time to treat it as a high-risk process; one that demands better design, closer supervision and smarter analytics. The most effective strategy blends people, technology, and intelligence. People remain the decision-makers, technology is the accelerator, and intelligence is the glue that holds it all together.
Building a smarter model without inflating costs
Retail security will only succeed when people, technology, and intelligence complement each other, not compete for attention. People remain the cornerstone, but their impact grows when supported by technology and guided by intelligence.
Start with presence that matters. A trained security officer positioned at self-checkout isn’t just a deterrent, they’re a decision-maker who can intervene early and de-escalate conflict. Their effectiveness multiplies when analytics flag a missed scan or a basket mismatch in real-time, turning what used to be guesswork into informed action. Behind the scenes, intelligence ties it all together. A central operations hub that fuses CCTV, alarms, and incident data not only monitors, but anticipates signals before they escalate. It ensures evidence is packed quickly for law enforcement authorities, improving charge rates and deterring repeat offenders.
This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about precision: e-gates that validate payment before exit, weight checks tuned to reduce overrides, and receipt spot-checks that feel fair but unpredictable. Combine this with scenario-based training, how to handle a suspected missed scan without confrontation for example, and these measures create a security ecosystem that is proactive, not reactive.
The economics of security
When margins tighten, the first instinct for many retailers is to reduce labour costs. Typically, this is achieved by trimming hours or outsourcing guarding at the lowest possible rate. It’s a familiar blueprint during cost-of-living pressures and competitive pricing wars. However, against the current climate of rising retail crime, that approach is counterproductive.
Whether in-house or outsourced, a skilled self-checkout supervisor equipped with assistive technology can oversee multiple lanes, intervene early, and prevent losses before they escalate. Although the day rate is higher, the cost per prevented incident is dramatically lower. Shrink reduction is where the real business case lies. If self-checkout accounts for a quarter of total loss, even a fractional improvement in shrink delivers more value than hundreds of low-cost hours. Investing in capability flips the equation: instead of chasing marginal savings, retailers protect revenue at scale.
Security that works starts with strategy
Retailers are facing a very different kind of threat than they were even just five years ago. Offenders are more organised, more opportunistic, and more willing to exploit weak points in store operations, especially around self-checkout. At the same time, frontline staff are expected to manage rising aggression with fewer resources and limited support – a challenge that outsourced security teams can help address by providing trained personnel, scalable coverage, and rapid response capabilities
What’s clear is that the old model – low-cost guarding, reactive monitoring, and generic deterrents – is not keeping pace. The retailers making progress are those who have stepped back and rethought the fundamentals: where people are placed, how technology is used, and how intelligence is shared across the business.
Security isn’t just a cost to manage. Done right, it protects revenue, builds staff confidence, and strengthens customer trust. That takes strategy and not just spend.
