Asda is rolling out retail crime reporting platform Auror across its full store estate after a London pilot helped recover more than £100,000 worth of products and lifted crime prevention rates by 55 per cent.

The supermarket tested the technology in 30 London stores over 10 weeks, cutting the average time taken to report an incident from around 25 minutes to less than five.

Asda said the pilot also improved its ability to identify repeat offenders and individuals targeting stores operated by different retailers.

The solution Asda is introducing brings information about in-store crimes together in one platform, allowing retailers and police to identify patterns, build cases and focus resources on prolific and organised offenders.

During the trial, specially trained Asda colleagues reviewed CCTV footage linked to theft and serious incidents before uploading it to the system.

The information was combined with reports submitted by other users of the Auror network to support investigations and wider crime prevention work.

Asda stressed that neither the pilot nor the national rollout used live facial recognition technology.

Asda chief operating officer David Lepley said: “Rolling out Auror across our estate will further strengthen our ability to prevent and tackle retail crime.

“The results from our London pilot demonstrated the value of having a faster and more effective way to report incidents and identify repeat offenders in real time.

“By working more closely with police and retailers through a shared intelligence network, we can focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact and help to tackle retail crime.”

Auror said its data indicated that 10 per cent of offenders were responsible for 70 per cent of retail crime and were up to four times more likely to behave violently or use a weapon.

The platform’s UK and Europe general manager Mark Gleeson said the pilot had helped Asda identify dozens of prolific repeat offenders, many of whom were known to target other retailers using the Auror network.

He said: “Retailers are working more effectively with police than ever before through digital collaboration.

“This is helping them surface the true scale of offending, understand and respond to risk across their estates, and focus their precious resources on those repeat, organised and violent offenders.”

The rollout comes amid heightened concern over violence and abuse directed at shop workers.

The latest British Retail Consortium crime survey found that retail workers faced around 1,600 incidents of abuse or violence each day in 2025, including an average of 36 incidents involving a weapon.

Asda has invested more than £90m in security measures over the past two years, including body-worn cameras, upgraded CCTV and additional security barriers.

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