Hardware retailer Bunnings has announced it will begin using facial recognition technology in two of its stores in Hamilton starting in mid-April. The system will first be used at the Te Rapa and Hamilton South stores, with plans to introduce it in all Bunnings stores across the country later.
The company says the technology is meant to help protect staff and customers from threatening behaviour by repeat offenders. Cameras will scan faces at the store entrance and alert staff if someone on a watchlist enters.
Bunnings New Zealand general manager Melissa Haines said keeping people safe is the company’s top priority. She explained that some people who repeatedly cause trouble are responsible for many of the threatening incidents in stores.
According to Bunnings, repeat offenders were linked to 34% of threatening events last year. This number has risen from 26% in 2022.
Before deciding to introduce the system, the company looked at a report from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The report studied a trial of facial recognition used in 25 supermarkets run by Foodstuffs North Island in 2024.
During that trial, the system scanned more than 225 million faces. Almost all of the images were deleted within one minute unless they matched someone on a watchlist.
