A Christchurch supermarket trial of facial recognition technology has been made permanent and extended to another store after showing measurable safety improvements.
After a three-month trial, Foodstuffs South Island has decided to keep the technology at New World St Martins and Pak’nSave Papanui and Moorhouse, while expanding it to New World Stanmore.
The initiative, which ran from October 2025 to January 2026, was designed to identify and manage individuals with a history of serious and harmful behaviour in stores.
Foodstuffs South Island retail head Kent Mahon said the results gave the co-operative confidence that the system could be deployed carefully and responsibly.
“The focus has always been on reducing harm. The trial showed we can do that while keeping accuracy high and respecting customer privacy,” Mahon said.
The facial recognition system scans images of everyone entering participating stores and compares them with a watchlist of known offenders.
Hellbound and Down 