Foodstuffs South Island will continue using facial recognition technology in three Christchurch supermarkets and expand it to a fourth store. The news comes after it conducted a trial between October 2025 and January 2026 designed to identify and manage people with a history of serious and harmful in-store behaviour. During the three-month period, there were 531 confirmed matches with people of interest, with no misidentifications or false positives recorded. Kent Mahon, Head of Retail for Foodstuffs South Island, said the results supported the continued use of the technology. “The focus has always been on reducing harm. The trial showed we can do that while keeping accuracy high and respecting customer privacy.” According to Foodstuffs South Island, staff reported that repeat offenders were less likely to return to stores involved in the trial. The company also said incidents involving threatening or harmful behaviour declined during the period, allowing employees to intervene earlier and reduce risks to customers and staff. The three stores involved in the trial, New World St Martins, PAK’nSAVE Papanui and PAK’nSAVE Moorhouse — will continue using the technology. New World Stanmore will also begin using facial recognition. Foodstuffs South Island said there had been interest from other stores dealing with harmful in-store behaviour, but no additional rollouts had been confirmed. The company said each store would undergo privacy, legal and risk assessments before implementing the technology. Customers will also be notified through prominent signage when facial recognition is in use. Foodstuffs South Island said it would continue monitoring the system’s performance and update the list of participating stores on its website. To stay up to date on the latest industry headlines, sign up to the C&I e-newsletter.