Musically, the song continues the glam rock styling of other Smiths singles during the period and includes a short guitar solo from Marr.

The song was a commercial success, reaching number twelve in the UK, and has been included on compilation albums such as The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs.

During a 1987 interview with Shaun Duggan, Morrissey said of the song: "[It does] not literally mean picking up a loaf of bread or a watch and sticking it in your coat pocket.

Marr has cited Nils Lofgren as the inspiration for the guitar on the song;[citation needed] He has commented, "People have said it sounds like Brian May, but I was thinking of stacked Roy Buchanans.

It made it to the white label test pressing stage and approximately 900 stock copies of the single were manufactured before the band decided to make "Shoplifters" the A-side instead.

The band then mimed the song on Top of the Pops; Morrissey appeared wearing an Elvis Presley T-shirt in keeping with the single's cover artwork.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine named the song as one of the tracks on Louder Than Bombs that he considered "definitive,"[10] while Diffuser.fm listed it among Morrissey and Marr's "best material".

Mimicking Marx's exhortation to the workers from The Communist Manifesto, 'Shoplifters of the World Unite' advocates for low-grade larceny (whether physical or emotional) over woozy production that leaves the song sounding like the delinquent cousin of 'How Soon Is Now?'.