Now Tesco shoppers are forced to show their receipts before leaving the store - joining Sainsbury's and Aldi

20 September 2023, 17:23

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

Tesco has joined Sainsbury's and Aldi in asking customers to show their receipts before leaving their stores as supermarkets continue to grapple with a rise in shoplifting.

The supermarket giant said the policy has been brought in at a Tesco Extra branch in Shoreham, West Sussex, as part of a trial.

Customers reported being held in the store while members of staff checked their receipts.

This caused some difficulty for shoppers, as customers are given a choice to print a receipt at self-checkouts, with one person sent back to go and get one.

It comes as supermarkets implement new measures to try and tackle a recent rise in shoplifting.

Around eight million items were stolen from UK shops last year - double the amount stolen in 2017 - according to the British Retail Consortirum.

Read More: Supermarket staff threatened with hypodermic needles as Iceland boss warns shoplifting 'becoming unpunishable'

Read More: Independent shops in Liverpool forced to create their own security network to combat shoplifters in the city

Tesco is not the first major supermarket to introduce such a measure, following Sainsbury's and budget store Aldi.

In some Sainsbury's stores, new scanners have been introduced in self-checkout areas, prompting customers to scan their receipts before leaving the shop.

Stores in Balham, South London and Winnersh, Berkshire were among some of those impacted by the new move.

Meanwhile, independent stores across the country have faced similar levels of shoplifting in recent years.

One store in Liverpool told LBC how other local shops have created a security network to warn each other of other shoplifters.

Matta’s International Food is a family-run business, which has had a home on Bold Street for four decades. Its owner, Dalip Matta, says the vast majority of small businesses can’t afford dedicated security staff, so they’ve created a WhatsApp group to help each other.

Mr Matta told LBC: “Bold Street stores, they collaborate together. There’s like a WhatsApp group and stuff.

“They send pictures of people they’ve caught, or they’re suspicious or they’ve seen them rob through CCTV cameras.

“So that is going around at the moment, it’s a Bold Street WhatsApp group, along with some other shops. We’ve got together to see what we can do and help each other. That’s how it is.

“It is an issue and, obviously, it's coming up to Christmas so hopefully it won’t get any worse. We’re going to have to be more vigilant, buckle our belts up and get through this.”