Asda is reportedly facing a backlash over its new facial recognition trial, which is currently taking place in five Greater Manchester stores, and has seen more than 5,000 complaint emails sent to the supermarket
Asda is facing a backlash over its new facial recognition trial, with thousands of complaints from shoppers flooding in. The pilot scheme, which is being tested in five stores across Greater Manchester, uses CCTV to match customers’ faces against an internal watchlist.
This list, as reported by The Grocer, consists of individuals Asda employees believe have been involved in “theft, violence and/or fraud in Asda stores”, though they may not have been legally convicted of any criminal offence.
According to the trade publication, over 5,000 emails have been sent to Asda as part of a campaign organised by Big Brother Watch. Madeleine Stone, the senior advocacy officer at Big Brother Watch, has criticised the initiative, stating: “Asda is adding customers to a secret watchlist with no due process, meaning people could be blacklisted from their local shop despite being innocent.
“Facial recognition has well-documented issues with accuracy and bias, and has already led to distressing and embarrassing cases of innocent shoppers being publicly branded as shoplifters.”
While Asda has not issued a response to The Grocer’s report, the supermarket chain previously justified the trial citing an increase in thefts and violent threats towards staff. Last year, Asda recorded more than 1,400 assaults on employees and other crimes, reports the Mirror.
Liz Evans, chief commercial officer – non-food and retail at Asda, expressed concerns about increasing incidents in their stores: “The rise in shoplifting and threats and violence against shopworkers in recent years is unacceptable and as a responsible retailer we have to look at all options to reduce the number of offences committed in our stores and protect our colleagues.”
Evans outlined Asda’s approach to improving safety: “We consistently look for new ways to improve the security in our stores and this trial will help us understand if facial recognition technology can reduce the number of incidents and provide greater protection to everybody in our stores.”
Asda has been using facial recognition technology from FaiceTech, paralleling other retailers like Home Bargains, Southern Co-op, Budgens, and Costcutter, who are utilising similar technology from Facewatch that checks faces against a shared national database.
This initiative comes in the wake of Asda’s announcement of its goal to launch a new series of additional, smaller shops, with plans to inaugurate 25 new Asda Express stores from June through to Christmas.
The expansion, underwritten by TDR Capital and Issa Brothers, is part of Asda’s comprehensive revitalisation strategy, particularly after a decline in market share from 14.8 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Speaking to the Telegraph, Asda’s new chairman Allan Leighton said: “Our job is to fix it – but not just to fix it. We have to build it, reset it, turn it into what it was.”
It is also understood that part of Asda’s expansion strategy includes the conversion of former Co-op locations into new Asda Express stores.