Safer, more connected stores at scale

The problem

2024 was a record year in the UK for reported incidents of abuse towards retail workers. For Currys, the increase in aggression towards its colleagues, coupled with rising levels of theft, meant new safety and security measures were needed.

The rollout of the S5 Pro Headset in every store

Currys turned to retail communication specialist VoCoVo to implement its S5 Pro Headset across all of its 295 UK and Ireland stores, enhancing colleague safety on the shop floor, allowing teams to stay better connected, and improving the customer experience.

Here’s the story behind the collaboration between VoCoVo and Currys.

The UK’s leading omnichannel retailer of technology products and services

Currys is a leading omnichannel retailer of technology products and services. In the UK&I, it operates through online channels and almost 300 stores, where it is the market leader, employing 15,000 capable and committed colleagues. Currys helps everyone enjoy amazing technology – however they choose to shop.

Its vision – We Help Everyone Enjoy Amazing Technology – is supported by a full range of services, a digital-first omnichannel model and an extensive distribution network. It also has a powerful social purpose at its heart: a belief in the power of technology to improve lives, helping people stay connected, productive, healthy and entertained.

Addressing the challenges

Currys urgently needed to tackle the rising tide of shoplifting and aggression by implementing a solution that protects colleagues, while improving service delivery at the same time.

The main challenges were identified as:

• High-value goods: Currys stores are often a target for thieves and organised crime groups due to the large number of high-value products on their premises.
• Communication: There was no single, instant way for team members to communicate across the store. Some colleagues had walkie-talkies, but they weren’t accessible to every colleague, which often resulted in shouting across the shop floor. Discreet contact was particularly difficult, leaving many feeling isolated when incidents occurred.
• Customer experience: As a specialist store with highly technical products, being able to assist customers when they need information is critical. Currys needed to ensure its customers had a way of reaching out to colleagues for help, even in areas of the store that wouldn’t normally be staffed.

How VoCoVo addressed Currys’ challenges

Currys implemented a two-store pilot to test the concept of headsets and gather feedback from colleagues. This initial pilot quickly turned into a 20-store trial, which proved a major success. Rolling out the solution at speed and scale then became the retailer’s priority, with VoCoVo implementing its S5 Pro Headsets across Currys’ entire 295 stores, achieving immediate impact. An additional 700 headsets were also ordered to support during peak periods.

Safety on the shop floor and improved customer experience

Since the deployment of VoCoVo Headsets in all stores, colleagues have been able to quickly and discreetly communicate with each other, whether it's raising queries related to a specific product or security issues with the correct team. Use of the headsets has culminated in 138 million push-to-talk activations, with a total of 153,000 hours of talk time recorded.

The benefits to colleagues have also translated to the number of incidents the retailer has recorded, headsets have contributed to:

• A 58% reduction in reported aggressive thefts compared with the year before engaging with VoCoVo
• Eight incidents of aggressive theft in the final eight weeks of FY24/25, down from 19 in the same period the previous year

Currys also highlights the following customer experience benefits since implementing VoCoVo:

• The Shop Floor Leader, who greets a customer when they walk into a store, can now more quickly triage their requirements and connect them with the correct expert in a few seconds. This ensures that each customer requiring specialist advice is looked after in an efficient and supportive way
• Colleagues can respond much faster to queries as they are able to contact one another for support without leaving the customer’s side
• With no need for colleagues to shout or hand-signal each other for help, the overall atmosphere within stores is positive and welcoming, improving the experience for customers and colleagues

Following overwhelmingly positive feedback from colleagues, Currys wanted its leadership team to experience the impact of VoCoVo when operating on the shop floor. In January 2026, the leadership team joined commercial and operations teams in the Southampton Hedge End store for a week-long immersion exercise, working alongside shop floor colleagues for 12 hours a day.

Each leader used a headset to experience what it was like to open and close a large, complex store with few colleagues on shift. It highlighted the importance of being constantly connected via headsets to prevent people from feeling alone, as well as how instant communication became a “superpower” for the team, letting them quickly flag and respond to risks.

An evolving partnership

The partnership between Currys and VoCoVo has continued to evolve through initiatives designed to improve communication, customer service and operational efficiency.

Head Office can now instantly reach every store with important updates, helping colleagues respond quickly to operational and technical issues. Within the first year of the partnership, Currys utilised Message Cast to send more than 60 store-wide alerts through VoCoVo Headsets to keep teams informed.

To create an even faster and more seamless customer experience, Two-Way Call Points have also been introduced, enabling customers to request help at the touch of a button. Strategically placed in areas where technical support is most likely to be needed, these alerts are sent directly to colleagues’ VoCoVo Headsets so customers can receive timely assistance, helping to improve service and support sales opportunities.

Pete Silver, Head of EU Accounts, VoCoVo: “What stands out from our work with Currys is the impact of a truly connected store. When colleagues can communicate instantly and discreetly, it doesn’t just improve how stores operate, it strengthens safety, builds confidence and elevates the customer experience all at once. Currys has proved that this is not a future vision of retail. It’s something that can be quickly implemented at scale, across entire store networks, delivering immediate and measurable impact for both colleagues and customers.”