With Halloween landing on Saturday this year, SAI is warning UK retailers that theft incidents could rise as much as 2.5 times the level experienced in 2025.

While Halloween is now one of the biggest sales events of the UK retail calendar, heightened footfall in-store alongside ongoing economic pressures on household finances mean the spooky season has become a growing target for theft. 

Data from SAI's One Platform, which analyses insight from more than 1,000 UK retail locations and inputs from over 30,000 cameras every day, showed that in 2025 Halloween (Friday, 31st Oct) shoplifting rose by +67% on the daily average.

This year, with Halloween falling on a Saturday - consistently one of the highest risk days of the week for retail crime - shoplifting is forecast to rise 150% year-on-year. 

Partial payment is expected to make up the majority of shoplifting attempts (58%). This is followed by grab and go theft (33%) and item switching, where a shopper deliberately selects a lower priced product at self-checkout in place of a higher value item (8%).

“Often regarded as the gateway to the Golden Quarter, Halloween provides retailers with an early opportunity to kick off their Peak Trading campaigns. But with that potential reward comes risk, and the darker side of Halloween is becoming a growing challenge for retailers wanting to capitalise on seasonal spending,” says Clare Hoole, Head of UK at SAI.

She adds: “Surges in footfall, combined with colleagues focused on servicing busier stores, can create more opportunities for theft, while more sophisticated offending behaviours, such as partial payment, become harder to detect."

"Real-time visibility and intelligence that enable retailers to intervene before losses occur will be critical to protecting margins and delivering a successful Spooky Season trading period.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the Golden Quarter, SAI forecasts that Super Saturday (19th December), the last Saturday before Christmas and often one of the busiest in-store trading days of the festive season, will be the biggest day for retail crime, with shoplifting expected to surge +66% year-on-year.

And the winners are...

SAI is among the finalists at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2026 shortlists and finalists here.

We received a record number of entries this year and many fantastic examples of technology excellence driving transformative change across the global retail sector.

Congratulations to all those who made it through the initial submission process! It’s now over to our star studded judging panel who will decide the winners to be announced at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony.

The event will consist of a drinks reception, three course meal, awards ceremony presided over by award winning stand-up comedian, presenter, actor and broadcaster, Aurie Styla, and after party until 1am.

Click here to book your place at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, 4th November.