Countdown trialling cameras at self-service checkouts to prevent theft

Friday, 18 August 2023

Countdown is trialling security cameras at self-checkouts to prevent theft.

The technology, which is being trialled at five stores across the country, records the shopper and the transaction and detects when items aren’t scanned correctly.

The trial was being conducted to test the accuracy of the checkout process and new stock loss prevention technology, a sign in a Wellington Countdown read.

The behaviour-based technology monitors product movement during the checkout process and can see when the product has been picked up, scanned and bagged and would help reduce mis-scanned items at the self-checkout.

A camera would be focused on each self-service checkout, while another camera pointed down on the checkout from above.

A Countdown spokesperson said that the video feed was angled to capture the checkout scanning area and faces detected in the video were blurred using artificial intelligence. Pinpads were also blacked out.

“We have strict security policies in place to protect customer privacy, and the footage captured is handled similarly to CCTV.“

If a misscan occurred, a short video highlighted the affected product and customers could then re-scan.

The footage is then automatically deleted after 30 days unless it is required to support an investigation.

Customers who did not want to be part of the trial could use express checkouts.

The spokesperson did not say how long the trial would run for but said the supermarket would “listen closely to feedback as we continue to introduce this technology over the coming months”.

The trial comes three years after Countdown introduced Picklist Assist, an image recognition technology that was able to detect the type of loose produce a customer was purchasing, making it difficult to scan a more expensive item as something cheaper.

Foodstuffs, which owns Pak’nSave and New World stores, had also been testing a number of theft prevention tactics after it experienced a nearly 40% increase in retail crime from the February to April quarter this year compared to last.

Serious incidents such as burglary, assault, robbery, and other aggressive, violent, and threatening behaviour were up 36%.

Pak’nSave Cameron Rd in Tauranga had been trialling the use of body cameras on staff, as well as facial recognition technology (FRT).

FRT involves the identification of a person based on an analysis of their facial features. Artificial intelligence programmes identify and map facial features to create a face print, which is compared to those on a database to find a match.

It also had CCTV cameras, uniformed and plain-clothed security team members and staff training to de-escalate situations.