Holland & Barrett invests in anti-theft tech as crime surges

Holland & Barrett is investing millions in adding new anti-theft measures to its stores, as it battles surging levels of retail crime.

The retailer is adding new remote access CCTV cameras, increasing the use of body-worn cameras and has rolled out a new platform for colleagues to report incidents across its 700 stores.

H&B executives have also written to police authorities, urging more collaboration between retailers and police forces in helping to tackle what are surging levels of crime and abuse of store staff in shops.

There were 443,995 reported shoplifting offences in the UK during the year to March 2024, a 30% increase on the previous year, according to the ONS’s latest Crime Survey for England and Wales.

In response to the spike, Holland & Barrett rolled out a new reporting platform with retail intelligence company Auror earlier this year. The platform improves the retailer’s ability to gather evidence and pinpoint repeat offenders by enabling staff to submit accounts, alongside other evidence gathered through sources like CCTV. 

From 7,000 incidents to have been reported by H&B staff since launch, 500 repeat offenders had been successfully identified, it said.

Following the initial results, senior executives have written an open letter to UK Policing, the membership body for police forces across the UK, encouraging members to register for secure access to Auror’s database.

In total, H&B aims to add body-worn cameras to another 80 stores. Remote CCTV and additional security have been added to 200 of its busiest stores as part of the investment, which comes as part of its ongoing store modernisation programme. 

The new tech would enable the retailer to respond to incidents more quickly, and de-escalate or deter incidents.

“This investment in loss prevention reflects our steadfast commitment to making our stores safer for our customers and colleagues,” said Holland & Barrett head of loss prevention Mark Williams.

“We recognise that retail crime is a community problem and working collaboratively to adopt the latest new technology can help us to create better impact – faster.”

In August, the new Labour government committed to uphold Tory proposals for a new Crime and Policing Bill in its inaugural King’s Speech, following sustained appeals from sector bosses over the past year. The proposals include a new standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker, as well as measures to tackle so-called ‘low level’ shoplifting.