Our story

Protecting the high street since 1994.

ShopSafe started inside Philips with one job: stop crime in shops. Three decades on, we run the radio networks, build the crime intelligence software and now make our own hardware, for retailers, BIDs, security teams and police across the UK.

See how we got here

ShopSafe team on stage at a retail crime event

Visitors at the ShopSafe stand trying Alert

1994Formed as part of Philips

50k+Stores protected

2m+Radio calls a year

35+Countries

Where we came from

From Philips to the platform shops rely on

ShopSafe was formed in 1994 as part of Philips, as a retail crime prevention solution from the outset. Our Shopwatch and Townlink radio schemes grew to connect shops, town centres and CCTV control rooms across the UK, and today more than 2 million calls a year cross our networks.

Along the way we stopped relying on other people’s technology and started building our own. The first version of Alert was built in a day. Turning it into the platform JD, Hobbycraft, Matalan and partnerships across the country use took four years.

“Even if you solve the problem for the 40%, you're not fixing the majority of the issue. You're just moving it on.”
Elliot Blenkhorn, co-founder, on building for independent shops and national retailers alike

**“You’ve done that in a day?”**Elliot Blenkhorn and Will Garrod, Co-founders

How we got here

Three decades of keeping shops safe

From a Philips project to our biggest year yet.

1994
Formed as part of Philips
ShopSafe began inside Philips as a retail crime prevention solution. Protecting shops has been the job from day one.
1997
An independent company
ShopSafe spun out of Philips to become a company of its own.
2017
Shopwatch and Townlink grow across the UK
Our radio schemes connect shops, town centres and CCTV control rooms, today carrying more than 2 million calls a year.
2020
Body cameras for retail and security
We launch a range of body-worn cameras for shop floors and security teams.
2022
Alert is born
Will built the first version in a day: a login screen and a list of incidents. Four years later it’s the platform retailers, BIDs and police forces use to share intelligence.
2024
A Customer Technology Hub in London
A home for demos, training and working with customers on what we build next.
2025
AI Video Safety and JD
Computer vision comes to CCTV, and JD rolls Alert out across its stores worldwide in the largest crime-intelligence deployment in retail history.
2026New
ShopSafe ONE launches
Our own all-in-one device: body camera, two-way radio, panic alarm with live streaming and facial recognition, uploading evidence straight into Alert over 4G.
2026New
Signal launches
Every radio call on a community safety scheme is recorded, transcribed and turned into incidents by AI, then sent into Alert for review.

2026

Our biggest year yet

Two launches that only a company with its own software team and its own hardware could make.

NewOur own hardware

ShopSafe ONE

After years of selling other people’s body cameras, we built our own, so every button, upload and alert works the way shop colleagues need.

Body camera, radio and panic alarm in one 130g device
Evidence uploads to Alert over 4G, with no docks
Live streaming to a control room when the alarm is pressed

Explore ShopSafe ONE

NewEvery radio call, understood

Signal

More than 2 million calls a year cross our radio networks. Signal records and transcribes each one and turns the traffic into incidents.

Every call recorded, transcribed and searchable
AI groups related calls into incidents
Included at no cost with community safety radio

Explore Signal

MatalanSigns to roll Alert out across all its stores

HertfordshireExpands its pilot to 1,500 more businesses

ChelmsfordLaunches Alert and radio with Essex Police

LiverpoolGoes live on Alert across the city

Why we build our own

The only radio company with its own software team

Competitors sell either the radios or the sharing software. We build both, and now the device on the colleague's chest too.

01

Our own software team

We’re the only radio company with an in-house software development team. That’s how Alert went from a one-day prototype to a national platform, and how Signal exists at all.

02

Our own hardware

Third-party cameras only let us do so much. Building ShopSafe ONE means we control every part of it, from the buttons to how footage gets to the people who need it.

03