Retailer Bunnings has implemented facial recognition technology (FRT) across all of its North Island stores in a move it says will help reduce retail crime and keep its staff and customers safe.
The latest phase of the nationwide rollout came into effect today, expanding the technology to a further 32 North Island stores following an earlier trial at two of its Hamiton locations in mid-April.
Bunnings said the technology was intended to provide a proactive warning to staff when a serious repeat offender entered the store.
Melissa Haines, Bunnings General Manager New Zealand, said the technology would protect team members and customers, as well as reduce the number of threatening incidents by repeat offenders.
Bunnings has switched on facial recognition at two of its stores amid what it described as a rise in "threatening incidents". (Source: Supplied)
“Our Hamilton rollout has given us a positive foundation, and during this initial phase we’ve focused on responsible implementation, including through team training, our internal processes and community engagement, and this gives us confidence to use FRT across our North Island stores”, she said.
Haines said that staff, not the technology itself, would make the final call when it came to identifying potential offenders.
“Threatening incidents in our New Zealand stores have more than doubled over the last four years, and we’re using a range of measures to keep our team and customers safe.
“FRT is an additional tool that helps us address this rising problem by identifying serious repeat offenders and allowing us to act early to prevent incidents.”
Bunnings said it would continue engaging with customers and Māori communities throughout the rollout, to explain how the technology worked and why it was being used.
It was also working with a Māori sovereignty expert and had incorporated tikanga Māori principles as a part of the approach.
The company previously said the rollout was designed after it reviewed the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's (OPC) findings from a 2024 facial recognition trial conducted by Foodstuffs North Island.
The OPC inquiry, released on June 4, 2025, found that Foodstuffs' trial complied with the Privacy Act, but only because strong privacy safeguards were in place.
Although the system collected the faces of every shopper entering the store, the OPC said the high level of privacy intrusion was reduced to an acceptable level because of measures such as rapid deletion.
The trial scanned 225,972,004 faces, with 99.999% deleted within one minute, and generated 1742 alerts, of which 1208 were confirmed matches.
Before using facial recognition technology, the Privacy Commissioner said organisations must justify its necessity, ensure the problem is serious, and check whether less intrusive alternatives would work.
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