NEWSShoplifting incidents
in England and Wales
have jumped 8% for
the year ending De-
cember 2016, accord-
ing to crime statis-
tics from The Office
for National Statistics
(ONS).
There were over
25,000 more incidents
than in 2015 with ap-
proximately 358,
incidents of shop theft
overall in 2016. The fig-
ures supported the fig-
ures recently released by the As-
sociation of Convenience Stores
(ACS).
Despite millions being spent
on investment in crime preven-
tion measures, figures from the
ACS Crime Survey 2017 showed
shop theft alone cost the con-
venience sector over £232m be-
tween 2016-17.
ACS Chief Executive James
Lowman said: “On average every
local shop loses £2,605 per year
or the equivalent to 7p crime tax
for consumers on every transac-
tion because of shop theft. The
police need to work closely with
retailers to prevent shop theft
and ensure that shop thieves are
dealt with properly.”
“Where there are serious
penalties available for repeat
shop thieves or organised crimi-
nals, we want to see these usedmore effectively so that shop
theft is never perceived as a vic-
timless crime or one that can
be committed without conse-
quences.
The Government’s review
of out of court disposals is long
overdue and this system needs
to be reformed.”
The most common items sto-
len from convenience stores are
alcohol, meat and confection-
ary items.
Speaking to Asian Trader,
Prakash Mahal, a convenience
store owner from Derby, said he
fears 2017 will be worse: “Brexit
has given people the motivation
to say and do things. I’ve heard
an increasing amount of insult-
ing comments around my shop
that I haven’t heard for a while.
It goes hand in hand with shop-
lifting, and it all starts with a ba-
sic lack of respect.”Over 25,000 more
shoplifting crimes
Retailers blame Brexit and fear worse to come
Record sales from Parfetts promotion
The spring edition of Parfetts quarterly seasonal showcase
promotion, saw sales of £8.4million – a £500,000 increase
over last winter’s record breaking week.
The total also represented a significant boost for every
single branch, compared to the equivalent week in 2016.
Sales excluding cigarettes against the same week last year
were up 89%. Parfetts Joint MD Greg Suszczenia commented:
“We can’t ignore the impact of AWRS, or the Go Local Direct
delivery initiative that operates from our Sheffield depot –
but there are other factors too. Central buying, Go Local and
continued commitment to improve Depot standards all
played a major role.”BOOS5024_SPORT_Trade Ad_ASIAN TRADER_297x93 AW1 OL.pdf 1 12/04/2017 16:8 ASIAN TRADER 12 MAY 2017 http://www.asiantrader.bizFollow us on: http://www.twitter.com/AsianTrader Like us on: http://www.facebook.com/AsianTraderAt News 4 pages1.indd 8 5/4/2017 8:20:41 AM