• According to the latest figures from the Ministry of the Interior, complaints of shoplifting have also increased by 17% between January and August 2022 compared to the same period last year.

  • In Nice, several signs in the city center ensure that there are “more and more thefts” on basic products even if “it has always existed”.

  • According to Thierry Cremer, specialist in retail security, “requirements for anti-theft protection equipment have never been so numerous”.

"There have never been so many requests for anti-theft protection equipment," says Thierry Cremer, a partner in the family business Smob, which has been present in the mass retail market for more than twenty years in the southern quarter. east of France.

This purchasing manager assures him that his sales “have exploded”.

“Shrinkage in supermarkets has always been a scourge for supermarkets and the inflationary crisis we are experiencing is only making it worse,” he adds.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of the Interior, complaints of shoplifting have also increased by 17% between January and August 2022 compared to the same period last year.

In Nice, several signs in the city center ensure that there are “more and more thefts” on basic products even if “it has always existed”.

Meat and fish, the most stolen foodstuffs

"We used to put locks on bottles of alcohol or consoles, not on meat or fish", develops the specialist in the field.

Different from those that are obvious to the customer, anti-theft protections for food products are, for their part, "invisible traps", reveals Thierry Cremer who cannot "say too much" about his techniques so as not to inform "potential thieves”.

According to him, “this type of merchandise has always been stolen”.

What has changed, “is the typical profile of what we think of a thief”.

He illustrates: “There are many elderly people, of whom there would be no doubt about their good faith, but who have a small pension and start stealing a cutlet.

According to the feedback he has at the moment, the most stolen foodstuffs are meat and fish.

“It is the store manager who decides where he will put these locks, he says.

As it has a certain price, he will not have fun putting it on all the products.

He is not going to invest in an anti-theft trap for first-price cookies, for example.

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Locks for hairdressing products, babies or in DIY stores

The most amazing thing for this partner in the family business is the requests from customers.

“I would never have imagined equipping organic stores, DIY stores or pharmacies,” he says.

I even set traps for hairdressing and even baby products.

And the owners do not ask for anti-theft equipment for fun, at 35,000 euros for installation.

For the purchasing manager, this type of investment is “necessarily profitable because shrinkage is very expensive”.

And in any case: "It deters people with bad intentions", he assures.



This is what Miranda Di Lorenzo, central trade union representative UD-CGT commerce in Nice, thinks, who is calling for more staff, especially in security.

“There are fewer and fewer agents,” she exclaims.

And it is not up to the employees of the caisses to manage these problems.

Especially since with self-service, we are even more exposed to theft.

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For her, with the end-of-year holiday season, “it will get bigger”.

“We will have to be very careful with products like salmon or foie gras,” said this Monoprix employee.

She adds: “We are already 20% more expensive than the rest of the supermarkets, so with inflation, it becomes very difficult for some.

It is also the regulars of the store who commit the most thefts from us.

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Miscellaneous facts

Inflation: Shoplifting on the rise, an effect of rising prices?

Company

Restos du cœur: In front of the door of a Nice center, "there are queues"

  • Company

  • Nice

  • Paca

  • Inflation

  • Economy

  • Flight

  • Supermarket