The rise in retail crime is a major issue that both the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and National Retail Association (NRA) want to combat in a big way.
Calling for major changes to improve the safety of retail staff and business owners, the NRA and ARA want stronger laws and deterrents for offenders, improved relationships between the retail sector and police, improved information sharing, increased focus on the human impact of retail crime and increased adoption of technology.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra says that retail crime is one of the most pressing issues facing the retail sector today.
“Retail crime has devastating impacts on businesses and their teams,” he explains.
“It’s an issue that is multifaceted with increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks, organised crime rings targeting retail stores and violent confrontations that are taking an emotional toll on frontline workers.”
He adds that good progress has been made to provide legislative protections for frontline workers, but the coverage is not yet universal across Australia.
“We need to continue pushing for these laws because this type of aggressive behaviour isn’t tolerated in any other workplace and shouldn’t have to be tolerated by retail workers.”
The ARA and NRA have been advocating for stronger penalties for people who assault front-line workers. In the past 12 months, new laws have been introduced in South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with legislation drafted in Tasmania and announced in Victoria.
“Research shows that stricter laws do have a positive impact for retailers and communities, by creating safer working and shopping environments,” says NRA interim CEO and legal director, Lindsay Carroll.
“However, police need more resources to effectively act on aggressive individuals and retailers need to increase their reporting of these incidents to police.”
The ARA and NRA joined forces at the recently held 2024 Retail Crime Symposium, which gathered leading experts with a common purpose to tackle retail crime, worker assaults and the infiltration of organised crime into stores and online environments.
“We need a joint approach to address the challenges impacting our sector including stronger relationships between retailers and police, innovative solutions to capture more data to help track retail crime trends and the responsible adoption of technology to help deter criminals and hold offenders to account,” adds Zahra.
