Sainsbury’s, in a bid to combat shoplifting, is set to place cameras that some have compared to VAR in football. The supermarket chain will place a cameras above the self-checkout till that will show a replay if an item is not scanned correctly.
This has been likened to video assistant referee (VAR) where the referee in football can review the replay to ensure the correct decision can be made; whether a player was offside, if a yellow card should be a red, etc.
If a shopper attempts to place an item into the bagging area, a pop-up message will appear if it didn’t scan properly. “Looks like that last item didn’t scan,” the message will say. “Please check you scanned it correctly before continuing.”
“We regularly review the security measures in our stores and our decisions to implement them are based on a range of factors, including offering our customers a smooth checkout experience,” a spokesperson for the supermarket said.
This comes amid an increase in shoplifting with police in England and Wales recording over half a million for the first time on record. In 2024, 516,971 shoplifting offences were recorded, a 20% increase over the 429,873 that were recorded in 2023 and the highest since records began in 2003.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), shoplifting has been at record levels over the past two years, with a “sharp rise” after the pandemic.
Image: SounderBruce
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