Co-op fights £40m shoplifting losses with AI-powered security

The technology, currently being trialled, can also detect physical assaults on staff and notify a central monitoring station operated by Mitie to request support, The Guardian reported.

The retailer, which returned to profit this week despite the surge in shoplifting, has spent £18m so far this year on measures to protect staff in its food business, including rolling out body-worn cameras and fortified kiosks.

This also includes installing AI technology in 14 of its stores to detect if someone has left without paying for an item, or whether someone has entered with a concealed weapon.

The Co-op said incidents of shoplifting, abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour increased by 44% last year, as it faced an average of 1,000 incidents each day.

Food managing director Matt Hood said: “The reality is every day four of my colleagues will be attacked and a further 116 colleagues will be seriously abused.”

His comments come as shoplifting offences across England and Wales surged to their highest rate in 20 years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with more than 400,000 incidents recorded by police during the year to September 2023, 32% above the previous year.

Hood shared that police failed to attend 79% of incidents last year where a criminal had been detained.

“We are 100% committed to tackling it and to making our colleagues safe and over £200m has been spent over recent years in safety and insecurity. But as an industry we can’t fix this on our own.”

In the King’s speech earlier this year, it was revealed that attacking or abusing a shopworker will be made a standalone offence, which both Co-op and Tesco welcomed.

Co-op chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq said she was pleased that the government planned to change the law but the group said it needed to come into effect “as soon as possible”.