The rise in Australians leaving the supermarket without paying for their groceries has brought new measures from Woolworths and Coles to stop theft.
Coles executive Matthew Swindells said an increase in shoplifting was a “post-COVID trend”.
“We are seeing elevated theft in Coles. It’s being seen by our contacts in the industry in Australia and it’s also being seen overseas,” Mr Swindells said on Tuesday.
“This is one of those post-COVID trends that’s definitely playing out.”
Woolworths Group boss Brad Banducci said there had been a “modest” rise in so-called “stock adjustments”, of which “non-payments” are a key driver.
“We don’t want to overplay it. New Zealand is still ahead of us in terms of stock loss … if we’re not careful we could end up a bit more in the New Zealand scenario,” Mr Banducci said on Wednesday.
“We just need to stay on top of it … and continue to roll out all of our various stock loss initiatives.”
Cost of living driving theft: Expert
Queensland University of Technology professor Gary Mortimer, who has been researching how supermarkets have been responding to theft for the better part of a decade, said the cost of living is driving shoplifting.
Prices across Coles and Woolworths increased by more than 7 per cent over the last half of 2022, which was forcing some families to make difficult choices, Dr Mortimer said.
“I don’t know if I’d describe it as a post-COVID trend,” he told TND.
“What’s driving it is the cost-of-living pressures.”
Dr Mortimer said retailers like Coles and Woolworths are investing heavily to curb the trend, with technologies like electronic security tags on meat and more expensive skincare products.
“Loss and theft takes place in a number of locations throughout the store, whether through staffed checkouts, self-service checkouts or just through exit and entry points,” he said.
“What retailers are trying to do now is cover that.”
Woolworths and Coles have been investing in a big crackdown on in-store theft and shoppers who don’t scan items, with artificial intelligence being used to film how customers are scanning items at self-service checkouts.
Woolworths recently expanded a trial of such technology, which affixes vertical cameras above checkouts to examine scanning to 110 stores across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
Coles, meanwhile, is reviewing its loss-prevention technologies and making investments.
Mr Swindells said the tech can work out whether Coles customers “have gone through a normal process” at the checkout, or whether someone has actually forgotten to pay for their groceries.
Anti-theft efforts spark privacy fears
These anti-theft efforts have been criticised by privacy advocates who say the tech is invasive and, as reported by The Guardian this week, treats all customers like suspects.
David Vaile, chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation, told TND on Wednesday the tech is “very intrusive” and that the data could even be dangerous if retailers using it were hacked.
“I understand retailers have issues with shoplifting, but they also don’t want to have proper staff levels. They want the so-called budget solution and that’s projecting risk to customers,” he said.
“There’s a segment of the community that’s highly exposed to inflation.”
However, Dr Mortimer said supermarkets are taking steps to balance privacy “pain points”, including by ensuring the artificial intelligence systems blur faces and don’t view EFTPOS machine pads.
“There will always be a segment of consumers who are concerned about those privacy issues,” Dr Mortimer said.
“It comes down to retailers more clearly communicating what they’re doing.”
