Archie Norman, who became chairman of Marks & Spencer in September 2017, has spoken out after warnings crime rates are picking up again across British high streets
Self-checkouts are fuelling “good, honest people” to shoplift, according to the chairman of Marks & Spencer.
The supermarket chain had said attacks were becoming “more brazen, more organised and more aggressive” after mobs of youths were captured on video raiding one of its stores earlier this month. Cases of employees at rival firms being sacked, such as Sean Egan at Morrisons, for attempting to challenge shoplifters have been widely condemned.
But Archie Norman, who became chairman of Marks & Spencer in September 2017, said yesterday “good, honest people” are driven to shoplift at times when self-checkouts become difficult to use. He said: “When normally good, honest people come in and they’re buying their shopping and it doesn’t scan, and there’s nobody manning the checkouts, they’re saying: ‘It’s not my fault and I don’t have much time so if I can’t get my strawberries through, I’ll just put them in my basket.'”
Yet, M&S has added hundreds of self-service machines across its stores. It said in 2023 that it had installed 800 of the tills in just 12 months to help it to reach its £150million cost-saving target.
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Mr Egan’s case came after Walker Smith lost his job at Waitrose in similar circumstances. This move, by one of M&S’ closest rivals, was criticised for sending a scathing message to law-abiding citizens.
But Mr Norman, who was MP for Tunbridge Wells between 1997 and 2005, said such citizens are encouraged to steal due to the boom in technology large businesses use. Selfservice machines, Mr Norman claims, have broken the “human link” between shoppers and retailers.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Norman, 71, added: “It does mean you’ve got to make the technology easier for people to use.” The outlet says Marks & Spencer hit out at shoplifting earlier this month following the youths’ rampage at the branch in Clapham, south London.
However, Mr Norman said self-checkouts were not to blame for the riots in Clapham. The father one blamed uncooperative police forces for failing to intervene against more prolific shoplifters, who he said were “clearing shelves to feed a habit”.
Mr Norman said: “When you have gangs of kids coming in and sweeping the shelves, that’s a police event and it requires an active police response. When something like that starts to become common it says to everybody, including ordinary citizens, that it’s not safe.”
Retail leaders have called on police to play a more visible role in tackling shop crime, with Simon Roberts, boss of Sainsbury’s, saying it would be “a really good thing” to see more officers patrolling stores. He added: “It would send a clear message that this issue is serious, that it matters, and that it is a top priority.”
