Woolworths New Zealand Details Investment In Safer Stores For Customers & Team With New Measures To Reduce Retail Crime

• Woolworths New Zealand is investing $45 million over the next three years to add further security measures to its stores and upskill team members dealing with conflict situations.
• In the past six years, Woolworths New Zealand has recorded a reported 303% increase in physical assaults, a 806% rise in security incidents and a 326% increase in theft incidents.
• Measures being introduced in the coming months include 30 additional trolley lock systems, new camera technology at self checkouts in more stores, and double entry gates in 12 stores.

21 August 2023: Woolworths New Zealand has today detailed its investment in making its stores throughout the country safer for customers and team members.

In the last few years, the retailer has seen a significant increase in aggressive, threatening and brazen behaviour from offenders in stores, along with a marked rise in shoplifting and retail crime incidents.

Woolworths New Zealand Managing Director, Spencer Sonn says the trend is unacceptable, and keeping customers and team safe in stores is an absolute priority for the business.

“The behaviour our team and customers see and experience every day in our stores is simply not good enough, and we won’t tolerate it. We’re stepping up our security and safety measures across our network to combat this and make ourselves a much harder target for retail crime.”

“Our team comes to work every day to serve our local communities. They do not deserve to be abused, verbally or physically assaulted for simply showing up to do their job. Hearing our team describe some of what they see and experience on the frontline is simply disgraceful.”

“We've been working to introduce a number of new initiatives in our stores, and New Zealanders can expect to see further changes in their local area in the coming months and years. We also know our strong relationships with both local and national Police, community groups and other retailers are critical - and we’re continuing to further build these.” says Spencer.

Woolworths New Zealand already has a number of different safety and security measures in place including specific team training, store design initiatives, push to talk radios and the use of CCTV. All of these will continue alongside the new measures. Every measure implemented complies with New Zealand law including privacy requirements.

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