Foodstuffs South Island to expand facial recognition to more Christchurch stores following successful trial
Foodstuffs South Island (FSSI) will continue to use facial recognition (FR) technology in the three Christchurch stores involved in its recent trial and is extending it to New World Stanmore, after a three-month trial demonstrated measurable safety improvements.
The trial, conducted from October 2025 to January 2026, aimed to identify and manage individuals with a history of serious and harmful in-store behaviour. During this period, there were 531 confirmed matches with people of interest, with no misidentifications or false positives recorded.
Staff reported repeat offenders were less likely to return to trial stores, and incidents involving threatening or harmful behaviour dropped, allowing teams to intervene earlier and reduce risks to customers and employees.
Kent Mahon, Head of Retail for Foodstuffs South Island, says the trial results give confidence the technology can 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 three trial stores will continue using FR, with New World Stanmore coming on board. There has been interest from other stores dealing with harmful in-store behaviour, although no further rollouts have been confirmed.
Each store will undergo privacy, legal, and risk assessments before implementation, and prominent signage will alert customers that FR is in use. Foodstuffs South Island will continue to monitor system performance and will update the list of stores using FR on its website.
More information, including common questions and the current list of stores using FR, is available at: www.foodstuffs-si.co.nz/news-room/Facial-Recognition
List of stores using facial recognition
- New World St Martins, Christchurch
- PAK’nSAVE Papanui, Christchurch
- PAK’nSAVE Moorhouse, Christchurch