The remarkably busy back-to-school shopping season has put retail security strategies to the test.
Store teams have welcomed waves of back-to-school shoppers in recent weeks, providing retailers a powerful opportunity to engage shoppers and influence their decision to return this holiday season.
However, bad actors often exploit peak periods and poorly monitored locations to steal merchandise. In the worst cases, they target customers and personnel directly, significantly damaging the community’s overall sense of safety.
Recent data underscores how safety risks collide with shopping behavior:
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Total back-to-school shopper spend is projected to reach a six-year high, according to the National Retail Federation, reflecting both K-12 and college preparation. More shoppers started in June and the season will continue through September.
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Online shopping rates have declined to their lowest level since 2016, with just 41% of Americans saying they expect to shop exclusively online for school prep.
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Troubling safety and operational risks have been rising this year, specifically: theft by repeat offenders, organized retail crime (ORC) related shoplifting, and violent incidents involving guests.
Shoppers and store personnel deserve safe, frustration-free experiences. Security strategies are critical to creating a secure store and empowering teams to continually deter or quickly address theft and safety risks.
Retail security teams and integrators have significantly revamped their in-store strategies, marked by contentious debate around locking up products and a 24/7 armed guard presence. While these measures may be necessary in some locations, a potentially overlooked area can yield compounding benefits for retailers in all communities: parking lots.
New data reinforces how parking lots are a top-of-mind concern influencing shopper behavior. Let’s explore how parking lots affect overall store security, how Americans feel about their safety in retail parking lots, and what this means for retail security investments.
Americans Feel Unsafe in Retail Parking Lots
The 2026 Public Safety & Privacy Benchmark, a survey of 2,089 American adults conducted by The Harris Poll, revealed stark safety concerns in large, open-air retail parking lots:
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21% of Americans feel unsafe in retail parking lots during the day, including 25% of women overall and 34% of women aged 18-34.
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52% of women and 41% of men say they avoid retail parking lots after dark due to concerns over their personal safety.
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49% of Gen Z, who will continue to gain influence in shopping decisions, have safety concerns in parking lots after dark.
These fears aren’t unique to a specific region. 52% of Americans in the Midwest report avoiding parking lots at night, followed by 47% in the South, 43% in the Northeast and 42% in the West.
The fairly high daytime safety concerns and considerable nighttime avoidance have a direct financial consequence for retailers. If shoppers feel unsafe in a store’s parking lot or surrounding areas, they may avoid shopping there altogether or limit their in-person shopping to daylight hours.
This data underscores for retailers and integrators that the parking lot is an essential part of an integrated security strategy.
How to Protect Store Parking Lots for Compounding Security Benefits
It’s understandable that Americans feel especially concerned about their safety after dark. Bad actors can more easily hide in the cover of night, and people may feel more vulnerable without the safety in numbers that busier daytime shopping brings.
Proper lighting in parking lots and store perimeters is non-negotiable. This extends to employee parking lots and back-of-store areas.
Daytime concerns are not addressed by lighting, however. To address daytime concerns, teams can ensure optimal visibility by keeping plants or bushes trimmed so shoppers and store personnel can freely observe their surroundings.
This extends to the broken window theory, which also provides an approachable baseline for preserving overall safety. Clean parking lots and buildings free of graffiti foster a greater sense of safety and reduce the likelihood of criminal activity compared to parking lots that exhibit clear disorder.
Lighting, visibility and cleanliness can strongly boost perceived safety, but they are unlikely to deliver significant benefits for overall security effectiveness.
The Public Safety & Privacy Benchmark examines how security technology can improve parking lot safety:
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84% of Americans say that highly visible security cameras help them feel safer when visiting a public place at night, such as a retail parking lot.
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77% say they are more likely to behave responsibly and be mindful of their actions when a security camera is used in a public space.
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54% say that cameras should be highly visible and clearly announced to maximize public awareness.
These findings suggest that security cameras can be a key means of reassuring customers that a store is safe. Ideally, those cameras should be used not just as scarecrows but as active tools to help investigate crimes and ensure bad actors are held accountable. 94% of Americans expect nearby security cameras to help solve a case if they were the victim of a crime in a public space.
In an optimal security strategy, any solution used, whether human or technology, works seamlessly with in-store personnel and contributes to the entire security toolkit. A parking lot camera with artificial intelligence capabilities, for example, may identify a large group of masked people preparing to enter a store, which could give personnel an immediate alert and an opportunity to prepare.
Or a perimeter monitoring system used in restricted areas could trigger an alert when an unauthorized individual is detected, allowing store security officers to respond before potential theft occurs.
Creating a Connected Retail Security Ecosystem
The threat landscape is constantly evolving as retailers face new pressures to balance their resources. Peak shopping seasons give teams promising potential to attract more Americans to shop in-store throughout the year, but their safety cannot be guaranteed unless carefully planned for.
Parking lots are a top-of-mind concern for Americans. Perimeters and parking lots are a prime area to consider for technology and human solutions that signal safety, deter crime and actively help pursue bad actors if a crime occurs.
Matt Kelley is senior vice president of business and market development for LiveView Technologies (LVT).
