(VOVWORLD) - Australian retailers are ramping up their tech security initiatives, including placing cameras at self-checkouts and body-worn cameras on staff, to combat a surge in stock theft and customer aggression aggravated by the cost of living crisis.
 Customers seen in the self-service checkout area of a Coles supermarket in Sydney, Australia, June 17, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo/File Photo) |
Top supermarket chains like Woolworths and Coles have flagged a pickup in store theft and hostile behaviour, in line with global trends, as higher fuel, housing and grocery costs squeeze shopper budgets and tempers.
Customer-facing staff at Coles and Woolworths, which together make up two-thirds of Australian grocery sales, have started wearing body cameras to record threatening behaviour, while trolleys are being fitted with wheels which automatically lock if a shopper tries to leave without paying.
Reports of store theft surged 23% in Australia’s three largest states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, in the year to March 2023. Reports of threatening behaviour by shoppers rose to 17% of all security reports logged by Australian store staff in 2023. And reports of “discriminatory harassment” targeting a store worker’s race or gender were up 50% over the same period.