Findings uncovered by the convenience trade association show that the average cost of retail crime skyrocketed to £12,164 per store in 2023/24.

As an average across the 763 stores which took part in the SGF annual crime survey. Scaling up the sample to represent all 5,171 convenience stores in Scotland, this accounts for an annual cost of approximately £62.9m which is crippling the sector.

Information gathered for the report and published during the SGF annual Crime & Wellbeing Seminar, being held at Hampden Park today, shows that:

100% of convenience retailers agree that shoplifting has increased in the past year, while 99.5% say that shoplifting is now a daily occurrence.

More than nine out of every ten stores report that violence against staff occurs at least once a week and Hate Crime once a month (92.8% and 92.7% respectively)

Over half (56.9%) of respondents also report experiencing daily incidents of abuse when refusing a sale or when asking for proof of age.

Analysis of the data also reveals a fall in confidence in the Scottish Justice System to tackle the growing problem of retail crime.

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