In today’s dynamic retail landscape, ensuring the safety and security of tenants and businesses is paramount. Recent statistics from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) underscore the pressing need for robust safety measures within the retail sector. According to the BRC, daily incidents against shop workers surged by 50% to a staggering 1,300 in 2023. These incidents encompass a range of threats, including sexual harassment, racial abuse, physical assault, and verbal threats.
To address these concerning trends, businesses have ramped up their investment into security measures. Expenditure on security measures, such as CCTV, body cameras, and increased security personnel, soared to £1.2 billion in 2023, marking a significant escalation from £722 million in the previous year. Despite these investments, the cost of theft to retail businesses has also surged, escalating from £953 million to £1.8 billion, resulting in a staggering total cost of crime amounting to £3.3 billion for retailers.
Whilst technology won’t stop criminal activity, anti-social behaviour or critical situations from occurring altogether, it can help to minimise the impact and improve responses. Taking steps to ensure a proactive approach to security can save valuable time, ensure proper resource allocation, and help to safe-guard tenants and businesses alike.
At Mallcomm we focus on streamlining communications and improving operational efficiency – when this is applied to security, these aspects can allow for preparedness, and swift execution of any security plans. By having faster reactions during incident response and situation management, they can be dealt with and their impact minimised. With clear communications communities can take a see something, say something approach, empowering them to act instead of react.
New figures from the retail trade body found that incidents against staff were up by 50% in the year to September 2023, up from 870 incidents a day the year before. A crisis or security incident can evolve at speed, so effective planning is paramount.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC said that “despite retailers investing huge sums in crime prevention, violence and abuse against retail workers is climbing.” No one should have to go to work fearing for their safety. This is a crisis that demands action now.” By facilitating communication and collaboration, Mallcomm encourages stakeholders to actively contribute to the collective security effort, fostering a sense of community and solidarity.
The escalating incidence of security threats within the retail sector underscores the critical importance of robust safety measures. But these measures don’t need to be complex, they need to be affordable and effective.
Discover how the Mallcomm platforms cutting-edge technology can ensure that you are prepared for any eventuality by speaking to our team below