Sainsbury’s starts facial recognition of customers to tackle shoplifters

Sainsbury’s boss says retail sector at a ‘crossroads’ amid a rise in shoplifting offences

Sainsbury’s has started testing controversial facial recognition technology in its UK supermarkets in a bid to catch shoplifters.

The UK's second largest supermarket has launched an eight-week trial in two stores as part of a crackdown on the crime, before potentially rolling out the technology nationwide.

It comes amid an increase in retail crime with official figures published in July showing the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales climbed to a record high last year.

Some 530,643 offences were logged in 2024-25, up 20 per cent from 444,022 in 2023-24, and the highest total since current police records began in 2002-03, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

“The retail sector is at a crossroads, facing rising abuse, antisocial behaviour and violence. We must put safety first,” said Simon Roberts, the retailer’s chief executive.

Sainsbury’s has started testing controversial facial recognition technology in its UK shops (Julien Behal/PA) (PA Wire)

But privacy campaigners are against the move and urged the supermarket to abandon its trial.

The supermarket is working with facial recognition business Facewatch and plans to start using the technology this week at a shop in London and another in Bath.

Already shops including Sports Direct and Costcutter use facial recognition to identify shoplifters. But this has been criticised by MPs and campaigners.

Privacy rights group Big Brother Watch labelled it as “deeply disproportionate and chilling”. The group’s Senior Advocacy Officer Madeleine Stone said: “Sainsbury’s decision to trial Orwellian facial recognition technology in its shops is deeply disproportionate and chilling.

“Sainsbury’s should abandon this trial and the government must urgently step in to prevent the unchecked spread of this invasive technology.”

Sainsbury's has said the trial is not about “monitoring colleagues or our valued customers”, instead it is “focused solely on identifying serious offenders who have committed acts of violence, aggression or theft,” Mr Roberts added.

The company said records would be deleted instantly if the software did not recognise the face of reported individuals. It added that the system issued an alert based on criminal behaviour submitted by the store or other retailers using Facewatch nearby.

Joanne Thomas, general secretary of the USDAW union, said: “We welcome Sainsbury’s ongoing programme of work to protect retail workers and customers from the continued threat of abuse and violence in stores.

“We look forward to seeing the results of the trial of facial recognition software and will continue to work closely with Sainsbury’s to support a responsible, evidence-led approach to tackling retail crime.”