UK lingerie and bedroom toys chain Ann Summers is set to roll out bodycams to high-risk stores across the country following a successful trial.

The brand tested the cameras for eight weeks in its Edinburgh Princes Street, Nottingham city centre and London Oxford Street branches, and found noticeable improvements in both staff confidence and in-store behaviour, it said.

Overall, personal safety incidents were reduced by 42 per cent during the trial, and the Edinburgh store reported zero police-attended incidents during the period.

The chain also received zero customer complaints about the cameras, which Ann Summers said is a vital consideration in a privacy-focused industry. The company said it believes that the trial has helped to address any initial staff concerns about customer perception and demonstrated that cameras do not have to disrupt the in-store experience for shoppers.

“It’s a sad fact that it’s tougher to work on our high streets, and with resources dwindling, the ability for police to respond in the way in which we might hope isn’t realistic anymore,” said Sam Tenner, head of business risk at Ann Summers. “So, with instances of confrontation or aggression up, we saw body cameras as a viable personal safety tool.

“Our motivation was purely around making our people feel we’re investing in the right tools to keep them safe and showing them how to use those tools to actually de-escalate aggressive behaviour.”

The British Retail Consortium reported in February that there were over 1,600 daily incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers in 2024/25, the second highest on record.

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