How much does theft really cost UK businesses?
25.08.2023 | 5 min read
Theft can break a business. The loss of business assets due to avoidable theft can cripple a business financially, impacting future growth and more. Here we look at how much theft really costs UK business owners, and most importantly, how to protect your business from such losses.
Financial losses.
In the UK alone, 18% of overall retail shrinkage came from crime targeting suppliers and warehouses.
Both these figures are on the rise, increasing by 1.2% for staff theft and 4.6% for supplier & warehouse crime in 2019. Together, they accounted for an estimated £2.22bn of losses in the UK throughout the year.
Furthermore, retail and logistics companies in Europe experience over £10bn in losses from theft and inventory shrinkage.
Pallets of food, technology and even jewellery are stolen every minute which is a massive problem for warehouses and has resulted in such annual losses in the UK. Traditional solutions such as surveillance cameras and physical security staff have proven to be very costly and often leave blind spots across large sites.
Such losses destroy businesses. The cost of theft not only impacts the loss of stock, but also the financial impact of increased insurance premiums, repairing of sites, and need to review and revise existing protection strategies and operations.
Financial losses can also relate the staff expenses; such as recruitment or even mental health related expenses, such as the provision of counselling to a team who have witnessed a robbery.
The cost of theft on UK businesses is more than financial. There is an operational cost, cost to future plans and negative effects on customer relations as they have expectations of stock safety, especially when utilizing third-party logistics.
At Sorair, our COO Raza has personally seen the cost to mental health that theft can cause, having experienced theft in previous careers. This has ignited our passion to help UK business owners protect their assets; thereby protecting their business, legacy and mental health.
It’s more than financial.
Can Soranet help prevent theft?
Soranet is built to deter and detect intruders from the earliest stages, even before they enter a facility, giving physical security teams the information they need to stop threats from escalating. Uniting smart cameras, sensors and aerial drones we provide complete coverage of sites from all angles, leaving no area unseen by security staff. Its unified approach to asset protection is the ideal tool for on-site security managers. Find out more about our AI-enabled security software that uses drones, sensors and CCTV cameras to track real-time activity across large industrial sites.