CeX has deployed Auror's retail crime reporting platform across its 390 UK stores to support colleague safety.
The rollout gives store staff a single way to log crime and in-store incidents across the chain. That information can be used to identify repeat offenders, assess risks across stores and share evidence with police in more serious cases.
The move reflects the distinct risks faced by the second-hand retail sector, where theft does not always follow the pattern seen in other high street shops. At CeX, incidents can involve devices being grabbed during customer interactions, as well as robberies and threats against staff when situations escalate.
Derrick Gough, Head of Loss Prevention at CeX, said offending in the business is often misunderstood.
"Because much of our stock isn't sitting out on the shop floor, the crime we see is rarely ordinary shoplifting.
"It's a phone snatched when someone asks to see a device, it's robberies, and unfortunately it's threats to our colleagues in escalated situations. Those moments are frightening for our teams. Their wellbeing is our top priority.
"Auror has given us a consistent way to record what's happened and surface the repeat offenders behind it - in fact, a prolific cross-country offender linked to £48,000 of stolen products at CeX was arrested following their last theft attempt in Edmonton," Gough said.
Crime patterns
Auror provides software that retailers use to record suspected criminal incidents after they happen and organise those reports in a structured format. The approach is designed to help stores connect incidents that may appear isolated at branch level but form part of a wider pattern across a region or multiple retail brands.
According to Auror, repeat offenders account for a disproportionate share of retail crime. Mark Gleeson, General Manager UK & Europe at Auror, said the same group is also more likely to be linked to violence.
"While the nature of risk is different from retailer to retailer, the consistent trend across the whole sector is that 70 per cent of crime in retail settings is driven by the top 10 per cent of repeat offenders, and those same offenders are up to four times more likely to be violent," Gleeson said.
He said retailers need to share intelligence more effectively because offenders move across different chains and areas.
"The sector cannot get on top of this problem alone. When committed retailers like CeX appreciate the value of working together, every store in that network becomes safer and they can understand who the top high-harm offenders are, because offenders are not brand-loyal and do not respect jurisdictional boundaries," Gleeson said.
Linked incidents
CeX cited one case in which an offender linked to £48,000 of stolen products was arrested after an attempted theft in Edmonton. Auror also pointed to a separate case in which retailers using its system linked an organised offender to more than £144,000 of stolen products across 73 crime events in 38 stores before reporting that information to police.
The UK retail sector has faced sustained concern over violence, abuse and organised theft in stores, with chains investing more in reporting systems, body-worn cameras, store security and data-sharing tools. For businesses with hundreds of branches, one challenge has been turning individual incident reports into a broader view of repeat offending and staff risk.
CeX, known for trading in pre-owned technology and entertainment products, said the new system is intended to improve the consistency of reporting across its estate. Auror said its platform is used globally in more than 85,000 retail stores and by more than 3,500 law enforcement agencies across the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand.