Primark has begun sealing up its paper carrier bags in some stores, using blue ‘sold’ stickers in a bid to deter shoplifting.
Shoppers without stickers on their bags could be stopped at the exit by the retailer’s store security personnel.
A Primark spokesperson told Sky News: “Antisocial behaviour and retail crime is rising right across the retail industry and we’re working with other retailers and organisations to help tackle this.”
It added the value fashion retailer has a range of security measures in place in its stores and is also trialling some new measures to help prevent stock loss, which includes sealing bags with ‘sold’ stickers.
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The retail giant said it will “be keeping an eye on this and monitoring the impact these new measures have”, while listening to feedback from both its colleagues and customers.
Last year, shoplifting hit a record high of 5.6m incidents – an almost fivefold increase.
The new data, released in The Association of Convenience Stores’ 2024 Crime Report, highlights the scale of the retail crime ‘crisis‘ facing UK retailers.
It revealed that retailers recorded over 600 incidents of theft an hour over the last year, with the top motivations for repeat offending being drug or alcohol addiction, organised crime and opportunism.
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