Supermarket chain Iceland is to offer customers a £1 reward if they spot shoplifters in the act.
The retailer’s boss, Richard Walker, said any shoppers who point out offenders to members of staff will receive a payment to their membership card.
Iceland said the business faces a roughly £20 million hit from the cost of shoplifting each year.
Mr Walker, executive chairman of Iceland, told Channel Five news that shoplifting is not a “victimless crime”.
“I’d like to announce that we will give £1 to any customer who points out a shoplifter.
“We’ll put it on their bonus card, if they see any customers in our stores who is undertaking that offence.
“Some people see this as a victimless crime; it is not.
“It also keeps prices from being lowered because it is a cost to the business.
“It’s a cost to the hours we pay our colleagues, as well as it being about intimidation and violence.”
He said the £20 million cost of theft limits the amount that the company can pay back out to its colleague and restrains its ability to lower prices.
