Iceland offers cash to customers who report shoplifters

Iceland Foods has launched a scheme that will credit shoppers with £1 on their loyalty cards if they alert staff to shoplifters, as the frozen-food chain struggles with annual losses of £20 million from in-store theft.

The initiative, which began on 14 August, applies across Iceland and Food Warehouse branches. Customers who witness a suspected theft are asked to inform the nearest employee, who will verify the incident before the reward is added to the shopper’s Bonus Card for immediate use.

Explaining the move on Channel 5 News, executive chairman Richard Walker said retail crime is far from victimless. “I would like to announce that we will give a pound to any customer who points out a shoplifter,” he told presenter Dan Walker, adding that shrinkage keeps prices higher than they might otherwise be.

Walker said that theft drains resources that could be spent on staff hours or lower prices. “Some people see it as a victimless crime, it is not,” he said, noting that the £20 million figure represents pure cost rather than lost profit.

The Iceland executive added a warning that shoplifting is spreading beyond big cities. “The scourge of shoplifting on our high streets continues to plague the UK, and the problem is only worsening, with criminal activity spreading across, not just big cities, but our market towns and villages too”.

Police data support Walker’s concerns. The Office for National Statistics recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences in England and Wales in the year to March 2025, a 20 per cent jump on the previous twelve months and the highest level since records began in 2003. The British Retail Consortium’s latest crime survey goes further, estimating more than 20 million incidents of customer theft in 2023-24 and losses of £2.2 billion, prompting the trade body to warn that retail crime is “spiralling out of control”.

Iceland stresses that customers should not confront suspects directly. The chain’s security staff will handle incidents, and payments will be revoked if accusations prove unfounded. The supermarket has also been trialling facial-recognition cameras in two northern stores and installing locked dispensers for high-value steaks, cutting shrinkage by 44 per cent in pilot locations.

Policing leaders have urged the public to take a more active role in tackling retail crime. Thames Valley police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber recently told a council panel that bystanders who merely film thefts “are part of the problem” and should instead call 999 or help staff prevent a suspect leaving the premises.

Iceland hopes its £1 incentive will enlist loyal shoppers as extra eyes on the shop floor and, in turn, reduce the financial drag of theft on its pricing.

Privacy advocates question the effect of tight surveillance. Big Brother Watch, which opposed facial-recognition trials at Asda supermarkets, recently told Retail Times that the technology “turns shoppers into suspects” and can accuse customers in error.

Sociologist Christopher Andrews meanwhile told CBC the tactic of heightened surveilance “is like turning shopping into airport security, where you are aware of making a mistake that will get you in trouble”. They say policies that overlook poverty, addiction and organised crime will not cut theft.



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