Supermarket giant Asda could roll out facial recognition tech to Black Country stores in bid to fight crime
Retail giant Asda is set to roll out facial recognition systems in its stores in a bid to tackle what it describes as an "epidemic of retail crime".
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The supermarket, which has major stores in dozens of Black Country locations including Wolverhampton, Walsall and Brierley Hill, is rolling out a trial of the new technology in five stores in England this month - before a decision is made on whether to roll out the system to other stores later this year.
The company says the technology is integrated into Asda’s existing CCTV network and works by scanning images and comparing the results to a known list of individuals who have previously committed criminal activity on an Asda site.
The company said it recorded around 1,400 assaults on staff at its stores last year, an average of four per day.
Liz Evans, chief commercial officer (non-food and retail) at Asda, said: “The rise in shoplifting and threats and violence against shopworkers in recent years is unacceptable and as a responsible retailer we have to look at all options to reduce the number of offences committed in our stores and protect our colleagues.
“We consistently look for new ways to improve the security in our stores and this trial will help us understand if facial recognition technology can reduce the number of incidents and provide greater protection to everybody in our stores.”
The news came as the firm reported "green shoots" in its sales performance, despite a 5.9 per cent drop in revenue down to £5 billion for the first quarter of the financial year.
Like-for-like sales in the four months to the end of April, adjusted to include the peak Easter trading period, declined by 3.1 per cent, a 1.1 per cent improvement on Q4 2024. The company says it has seen further improvements in its like-for-like performance in May.
“We’re making good progress - with around 10,000 products at these lower price points – and customers are seeing the difference in their pockets," said Allan Leighton, Asda’s executive chairman.
“There has been a striking improvement in availability, which is now up to 95 per cent, and our customer satisfaction measures have improved too.
"Although we are seeing the green shoots in sales performance, there is a long way to go, and we remain firmly focussed on widening the price gap over other full-service supermarkets to give customers the savings they expect every time they shop at Asda.”
