According to the BRC, violence and abuse against shopworkers also rose by 50%, with more than 2,000 such incidents recorded on average per day.
It says its survey was based on a sample of retailers representing over 1.1 million employees and a market turnover of more than £194bn.
Separate figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday revealed shoplifting offences reported by police in England and Wales rose by 23% to more than 492,000 over the same period.
That is the highest figure since current recording practices began in 2003.
However Tom Holder, spokesperson for the BRC, said the extent of the problem is “very, very much underestimated by the ONS”, because it only captures crime reported by police.
“If their statistics were true, there’d only be about one and a half incidents per year per shop, and if you ask any shopkeeper they’ll tell you they’re lucky if a day goes by where there hasn’t been a shoplifting incident.”
In one “kamikaze” incident last month at a phone store in London’s Oxford Street, two men spent minutes kicking down a phone stand in front of customers and shop workers.
It is believed the phone stand contained dummy phones which could then have been sold online to unsuspecting customers, tricked into believing they were buying the real thing.
The Metropolitan Police said officers responded to the incident and carried out a search of the area. They were unable to locate the suspects, despite the fact that they were captured on video. An investigation has since been launched.
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