Grocer cooperative Foodstuffs North Island is trialling new facial-recognition technology, following what the group describes as a significant increase in crime rates across its stores.
The cooperative claims the tech will only be implemented for the “specific and limited purpose of proactively targeting and reducing theft, burglary, robbery, assault, and other aggressive, violent, or threatening behaviour by repeat offenders”.
A signpost will also be placed at store entrances using facial-recognition technology.
“Supermarkets are on the frontline of the rising trend of retail crime, with our teams dealing with daily incidents of assault, aggression and theft,” said Chris Quin, CEO at Foodstuffs North Island.
Quin said the number of grocery store incidents has risen significantly since early next year, with serious cases up by 30 per cent versus last year and by 246 per cent since before the pandemic.
To “proactively” reduce incidents, the cooperative is rolling out the facial-recognition tech in about 30 stores across its network.
The cooperative expects the software will help identify repeat offenders, given its data shows about 2500 out of 9700 customers are likely to have offended more than once.
Quin added that the store team’s focus is to keep food on the shelf and look after the customers – not manage unsafe situations.
“This is where facial recognition technology could help,” he said. “It may be able to sit alongside all our other security and safety initiatives, helping to proactively identify anyone who should not be in the store or is a known accomplice of an offender.”
Earlier this year, Australian retail giants Bunnings and Kmart suspended facial recognition technology in their stores after backlash from consumer groups, with some describing the technology as “invasive and unwarranted.”
“We don’t feel comfortable with brands and retailers having our face. It feels very different from them knowing that we’re logging into a website for the fifth time,” consumer behaviour expert Jason Pallant told Inside Retail.
Quin has moved to reassure customers that their privacy is Foodstuffs’ main priority, promised appropriate use of the technology during the trial, and compliance with all relevant privacy laws.
The cooperative consulted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on regulating biometrics, including facial recognition, in the country before proceeding with the trial.
“Once we have the trial results, we can decide whether we use this technology on an ongoing basis for security and, if so, how we do that in a way that keeps everyone safe,” he concluded.
Foodstuffs is a cooperative consisting of more than 320 local grocers who own and operate New World, Pak’nSave, Gilmours and Four Square stores on North Island, employing more than 24,000 people.
