- A Tesco store is putting security stickers on blocks of cheese and butter that cost less than $5.
- Other Tesco stores in London that Insider visited didn't have stickers on the products.
- Various British grocers are tagging everyday products, thought to be to deter shoplifting amid soaring inflation.
A Tesco store is putting security stickers on blocks of cheese and butter.
The store in Bethnal Green, London, had stickers on £4.15 ($4.96) blocks of Cathedral City cheese, as well as on packs of Lurpak butter which cost £4 ($4.78) with a Clubcard — the grocery's giants membership card — or £5.05 ($6.04) without.
A larger Tesco store on the same street didn't have security stickers on either product. Other Tesco stores in London that Insider visited also didn't have stickers on Lurpak butter and Cathedral City cheese.
The use of security stickers at Tesco comes amid reports of various British supermarket chains putting security tags and cases on everyday products, thought to be to deter shoplifting amid the cost-of-living crisis.
A photo shared on Twitter last week showed blocks of cheese from Aldi's Essentials range with tags on at a store in Wolverhampton, while another showed tubs of Lurpak with security stickers on at an Asda store near Newcastle.
Insider visited various supermarkets around London, and found some Sainsbury's stores that had put security stickers, tags, and boxes on products ranging from toothpaste and Cadbury chocolate to pregnancy tests and thrush cream.
An Asda spokesperson told Insider that the company wasn't tagging Lurpak as a rule, but that "a single store has probably had some of this product stolen recently and has decided to place tags on the rest to ensure they don't also get stolen."
A Sainsbury's spokesperson told Insider similarly said that the decisions to tag some items "will vary from store to store."
While many supermarkets use security tags on high-value items like alcohol, video games, meat, and batteries, it's rare to see them on everyday products. In a 2017 review of studies on security tagging, academics at University College London wrote that as well as applying tags to frequently-stolen and high-value goods, some stores deployed "fractional tagging" techniques, where some products are tagged in the hope that it will also deter thieves from targeting untagged goods.
"Tags are effective because they're a deterrent," retail consultant Steve Dresser tweeted. "Decisions to tag are often data led and will be where lines are seeing a fair amount of shrink."
News of supermarkets tagging more items comes amid a period of surging inflation, which is believed to spark an increase in retail theft. The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages in the UK rose by 8.7% in the year to May 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics — and increased by 1.5% between April and May alone.
One store manager told UK industry publication The Grocer that more shoplifters were targeting low-price, everyday items, while another said an elderly customer had tried to steal shampoo and washing powder.
"We have seen this before in previous times of austerity or economic downturn," Sinéad Furey, a senior lecturer at Ulster University, told the publication.