The Aldi rival supermarket that has a new way to end the theft and theft in its stores

Supermarkets, hypermarkets and small feeding stores are alert for the abrupt increase in theft this last year. Due in part to inflation (IPC rise), many foods or basic care products have become precious objects, since they have not stopped increasing their prices and that has attracted thieves.

Also the implementation of autopagogue systems, in large hypermarkets and supermarkets, has caused that it is now more difficult to detect if someone is lying when not paying the product, since it may be because the machine really did not scan it correctly or that the customer passed it without scanning intentionally. This involves a problem for the stores themselves, since incriminating a person of theft can generate an unpleasant and dangerous situation.

A supermarket chain from the United Kingdom, Iceland, has a plan to end this type of theft and for this they have decided to involve their clients in the problem. His idea is based on paying the clients themselves, through a loan, when they denounce a robbery that is being carried out at that time to their staff. Thus, many fewer people will dare to commit these acts.

This supermarket pays 1 euros to which they denounce theft

The Iceland plan is clear, they intend to pay a modest amount to anyone who denounces a theft. This has been confirmed by its executive president, Richard Walker, who declared the BBC that buyers who notify staff about a robbery that are being committed at that time will receive a loan of 1 pound (1.13 euros) in their Iceland Bonus Card.

The supermarket chain believes that thefts in stores cost their business around 20 million pounds a year, so it does not seem bad investment.

Walker said that this figure not only affects the results of the company, but also limits its ability to reduce prices and reinvest in staff salaries, according to the BBC.

And it is that the effect of theft is not just an idea, it is a reality. A research report, “The Pass-Through of Retail Crime”, by Carl Hase and Johannes Kasinger from Cornell University, corroborates it.

This was described by Walker:

“Some see it as a crime without victims, but it is not. It is a cost for the business, for the hours we pay to our colleagues, and implies intimidation and violence,” he said. “We would like customers to help us lower prices even more by pointing to thieves.”

Statistics of thefts in 2023-2025 stores in the United Kingdom

• The incidents of theft in stores in 2023 increased 93% compared to 2019. Losses due to these incidents increased 90% during the same period.
• On average, retailers experienced 177 incidents of theft per day in 2023. In certain sectors, the daily incidents exceeded 1000.

Violence and aggression in theft in stores:

• 73% of retailers reported more violent or aggressive behavior by store thieves compared to the previous year.
• 91% noticed an increase in aggressiveness since 2019.

Participation in retail organized crime (ORC):

• 62% of retailers claim that theft by several people (2 or 3 people working together) is a growing concern.
• 76% consider that thefts in stores linked to the ORC are a major problem that a year ago.
• Among the retailers that specifically track the ORC, ORC incidents increased 57 % between 2022 and 2023.

NRF 2025 update:

• 42% of the retailed retailers reported an increase in theft incidents that involved threats or real violence.
• The trend shows that theft rates in stores in the middle of the year of 2024 exceeded those of the same period in 2023, which suggests that the figures of the year 2024 probably exceeded those of 2023.

It may not be the solution, but we will have to try

The option to pay people to denounce robberies in stores is not something that comes from an official study, much less, but a report from the United States Department of Justice suggests that it will not be so.

“Hundreds of innovative community action programs have been designed to promote citizen participation offering a monetary and anonymity reward to encourage citizens to report a crime,” according to the report.