Shopkeeper's Privilege and Racial Bias

If you have ever seen a private security guard stop to question or detail a "suspicious" person, you have seen something known in legal circles as "shopkeeper's privilege." The doctrine of shopkeeper's privilege states that in this situation, a shopkeeper defendant who reasonably believes that the plaintiff has stolen or is attempting to steal something from the defendant shopkeeper may detain the plaintiff in a reasonable manner for a reasonable amount of time to investigate. (via)

Unsurprisingly, the decision of who to target and detail is often influenced by racial bias. According to a study commissioned by the Sephora Beauty Retailer (in response to reports of discrimination by Sephora's own staff), fully 40% of customers in US retail stores experience unfair treatment based on their race, ethnicity, or skin tone.

This includes everything from being passed off or ignored by store staff to being the object of suspicion and subject to false accusations. The report concludes that there is "an invisible tax" on BIPOC and Indigenous shoppers, who struggle to find the products they need and to get assistance from store staff. It also determined that there is a pattern of exclusion created in store policies which results in certain kinds of customers being categorized as "less desirable" and therefore unwanted.

And it identified five "Truths" that perpetuate and shore up this racial bias in retail stores:

1. Limited racial diversity across marketing, merchandise, and retail employees results in exclusionary treatment before U.S. BIPOC shoppers even enter a store and continues across their in-store journey

2.U.S. BIPOC shoppers feel in-store interactions are driven by their skin color and ethnicity, yet retail employees cite behavioral attributes, rather than appearance, as the basis for their interactions

3 U.S. BIPOC shoppers use coping mechanisms to minimize or avoid anticipated biased experiences when in-store. While many customer experience needs are universal, BIPOC shoppers have some needs that hold greater importance in helping them feel welcome

4 The majority of U.S. BIPOC shoppers do not voice concerns about negative shopping experiences directly to retailers, creating missed opportunities for feedback and improvement, and impacting future sales as shoppers take their business elsewhere

5 Meaningful and long-term action is most important to U.S. shoppers and retail employees who want to see the company’s words supported by consequential action

"Meaningful and long-term" is a difficult experience to foster when, as the report states, four out of five retail shoppers have trouble finding a sales associate that looks like them or is familiar with their needs, and two out of three cannot even find someone who speaks their native language.

Recently Sephora, along with 17 other retail groups signed the Mitigate Racial Bias in Retail Charter, a pledge and a commitment to take "concrete steps to ensure a more welcoming environment for all by reducing racially biased experiences and unfair treatment for shoppers."

This means dismantling many long-standing policies that unfairly target BIPOC shoppers, as well as committing to increasing diversity in marketing and hiring; providing better feedback mechanisms; tracking the company's progress towards its inclusivity goals; and providing ongoing and regular anti-racism training.

Read the Full Study