Co-op is to launch a crackdown on a surge in middle-class shoplifting after it suffered a £70m hit from store thefts last year.
Matt Hood, the Co-op Food managing director, said it was installing more artificial intelligence (AI) technology in its convenience stores to help monitor what customers were putting in their shopping bags at its self-service checkouts.
He said: “We are looking at what we can do around AI and what we can do with that linkage to our CCTV cameras.”
This would help them to “reduce the potential increase in middle-class crime”, Mr Hood said, adding there was “some evidence” that self-service machines led to more theft.
It follows moves by US rivals to start pulling the technology from stores in a bid to reduce shoplifting rates.
Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman recently claimed that shoplifting was “creeping in” among the middle classes when people were using self-service machines.
In November, Mr Norman said: “It’s too easy to say it’s a cost of living problem. Some of this shoplifting is gangs. Then you get the middle class.
“With the reduction of service you get in a lot of shops, a lot of people think: ‘This didn’t scan properly, or it’s very difficult to scan these things through and I shop here all the time. It’s not my fault, I’m owed it’.”
It comes as retailers battle to keep a lid on rising theft and attacks in stores.
On Thursday, Co-op said the number of retail crime incidents jumped by 44pc last year to around 1,000 incidents every day. Mr Hood said the company had spent £200m over the past few years to try to protect its staff and its stores, including putting dummy packets on shelves, securing kiosks and putting locking doors on high-value products.
However, he said last year the company had still lost around £70m through “shrinkage”, which is the term used to refer to stock that is stolen, damaged or lost.
Mr Hood added: “Despite the extensive measures we’ve put in place to protect our colleagues, the reality is every day four of my colleagues will be attacked and a further 116 colleagues will be seriously abused...as an industry, we can’t fix this on our own.”
His comments came as the Co-operative, which also sells pet and home insurance and funeral services, said revenues dipped to £11.3bn last year compared to £11.5bn a year earlier.
Profits plunged to £38m from £268m. However, this was largely driven by the sale of its petrol forecourts business which boosted results the prior year.
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