Asda hit with thousands of complaints after making huge change in stores

Asda has reportedly received thousands of complaints over its new facial recognition trial. The trial, which is taking place in five Greater Manchester stores, involves CCTV being used to scan customer faces against an internal watchlist.

The watchlist is made up of people that Asda staff suspect have been involved in “theft, violence and/or fraud in stores” according to . The people on the list may not have actually been convicted of any crime.

The trade magazine now reports that more than 5,000 complaint emails have been sent to Asda as part of a campaign by Watch. Big Brother Watch’s senior advocacy officer Madeleine Stone said: “Asda is adding customers to a secret watchlist with no due process, meaning people could be blacklisted from their local shop despite being innocent.

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“Facial recognition has well-documented issues with accuracy and bias, and has already led to distressing and embarrassing cases of innocent shoppers being publicly branded as shoplifters.”

Asda did not respond to The Grocer - however, when the facial recognition trial was launched, the supermarket said it was due to rising number of thefts in store and threats of violence against workers. Asda saw more than 1,400 assaults against staff and crime last year.

Liz Evans, chief commercial officer - non-food and retail at Asda, said: “The rise in shoplifting and threats and violence against shopworkers in recent years is unacceptable and as a responsible retailer we have to look at all options to reduce the number of offences committed in our stores and protect our colleagues.

“We consistently look for new ways to improve the security in our stores and this trial will help us understand if facial recognition can reduce the number of incidents and provide greater protection to everybody in our stores.”

The facial technology in Asda stores is provided by a firm called FaiceTech. Home Bargains, Southern , Budgens and Costcutter use similar technology from Facewatch, which matches faces against a national database shared by multiple retailers.

It comes after Asda announced plans to open dozens of new smaller shops in high streets and local communities. The supermarket is plotting to open 25 new Asda Express stores between June and .

TDR Capital and Issa Brothers are to fund the expansion, which is part of a wider turnaround plan for the grocer after its market share slipped from 14.8% to 12.5%. Asda's new chairman Allan Leighton told the "Our job is to fix it - but not just to fix it. We have to build it, reset it, turn it into what it was."

Asda is understood to have also focused on converting former Co-op stores into Asda Express sites.