High street retailers, the Home Office and industry groups have come together to support #ShopKind Week, which takes place from 6 to 10 May 2024.
The #ShopKind campaign aims to remind customers about the importance of being considerate to shopworkers and each other. UK-wide polling highlights that 31% of customers are more anxious when they shop and 36% of customers have witnessed violence and abuse towards shop worker while shopping.
Figures from the Association of Convenience Stores’ annual Crime Report also show that almost nine in 10 colleagues working in local shops have experienced verbal abuse over the last year.
The most frequently cited triggers in the report were:
- Encountering shop thieves
- Asking customers to verify their age
- Refusing to serve intoxicated customers
The #ShopKind campaign is backed by the Home Office and supported by over 100 high street retailers, local retailers and trade union Usdaw.
The British Retail Consortium’s annual Crime Survey shows that there are over 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse every day in the retail sector. In April 2024, the Government announced that it would be introducing a separate offence for assaulting a retail worker, building on previous sentencing guidelines that made assaulting someone working in a store an aggravated offence.
This week (6-10 May) retailers are reminding customers to ShopKind in stores and acknowledge the important role of shopworkers to communities.
Association of Convenience Stores Chief Executive James Lowman said: “Colleagues in shops are there to help and deserve to be treated with respect, and there is never a good excuse to be abusive towards them. We’re pleased that there is such widespread continued support in the retail sector and from the Home Office for the Shopkind campaign, which we hope will urge frustrated shoppers to think twice before an incident escalates into abuse.”
Retailers looking to get involved with the campaign during #Shopkind Week can download supporting materials from the National Business Crime Centre website.
