Foodstuffs South Island will expand its facial recognition technology to another Christchurch supermarket following what it described as a successful three month trial aimed at reducing harmful and threatening behaviour in stores.

The company confirmed facial recognition technology would continue operating at three Christchurch supermarkets involved in the trial and would also be introduced at New World Stanmore from Monday 08 June.

The trial ran between October 2025 and January 2026 at New World St Martins, PAK’nSAVE Papanui and PAK’nSAVE Moorhouse.

Foodstuffs South Island said there were 531 confirmed matches with people of interest during the trial period, with no false positives or misidentifications recorded.

According to the company, staff reported repeat offenders were less likely to return to the stores using the technology, while incidents involving threatening or harmful behaviour dropped during the trial.

Foodstuffs South Island Head of Retail Kent Mahon said the technology was introduced with safety as the main priority.

“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.

New World Stanmore will become the fourth Christchurch supermarket using the technology.

Foodstuffs South Island said other stores had expressed interest in introducing facial recognition technology due to ongoing issues involving harmful in store behaviour, although no additional locations had yet been confirmed.

The company said each supermarket would undergo privacy, legal and risk assessments before facial recognition technology was introduced. Stores using the system would also display signage informing customers the technology was operating.

Foodstuffs South Island said it would continue monitoring the system’s performance and update the list of participating stores on its website.