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In-store Technology and your Privacy

How we handle your personal information while you're in our stores.

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Across Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths Metros and BIG W stores, we’re committed to keeping you and your privacy protected. We take the handling and protection of your personal information very seriously — this includes continuously striving to improve our in-store technology and ensuring we’re transparent about it.

Our in-store technologies are simply put in place to:

  • Help keep you, our team members, contractors and suppliers safe 
  • Improve your in-store shopping experience
  • Improve product availability throughout the day
  • Reduce instances of retail crime

It’s important to us that you’re aware of the types of technologies we have implemented in our stores, and why we use them. It’s also important to note that we do not use facial recognition technology in any of our stores. You can find out more about some of the technologies we use in certain stores below, including how they work, why we’re using them and the steps we take to help protect your privacy.

Staff member helping a customer at the self-service register
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Safety Technologies

Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras


CCTV Cameras are located both inside and outside of our stores. They’re in place to:

 

  • Help keep you, our team members, contractors and suppliers safe
  • Assist with theft prevention
  • Provide a record of events in case an investigation is required, for example, if there is a threat of violence made against you or our team. 

These cameras automatically record footage, which includes images of customers as they walk through the store. CCTV Cameras do not use facial recognition technology. In some areas of the store, real-time footage recorded by the CCTV is displayed on nearby TV screens as a theft deterrence measure, by clearly indicating to customers specific areas of the store that are under surveillance. 

CCTV footage is generally overwritten between 45-60 days after it is recorded, except where it needs to be kept for a specific investigation or other legal reason.

big w storefront

Team Safety Cameras


Team members may wear a Team Safety Camera, which is a small wearable device (pictured). They aim to keep you and our team members safe in the rare instance of violence or aggression.

The cameras don’t automatically record video. They’re only activated by a team member if they feel there is a safety risk (be it verbal abuse, physical assault or aggression) and, in these cases, they record video without sound. 

Our team members are trained to only activate the device in these situations. The Team Safety Camera device does not use facial recognition technology.

team safety cameras
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Checkout Technologies

Scan Assist


Scan Assist uses technology to improve the self-checkout experience in Woolworths Supermarkets, and some of our BIG W and Woolworths Metro stores.

The role of this technology is to:

  • Alert team members if barcodes can't be scanned
  • Ensure no items are left behind by a customer
  • Reduce incorrect scanning

 

How Scan Assist works


The technology uses camera vision technology with machine learning to monitor the movement of objects, not people. For example, the technology monitors items in the checkout area and identifies when an object may be mis-scanned, or left in a customer’s trolley or basket. A notification is then sent to the customer or team member to consider whether a product needs to be scanned or rescanned and the technology learns and improves over time. 

  • It has built-in security measures to protect privacy, including blacking out of pin pads during checkout and blurring of faces when imaged (which is uncommon as the camera is positioned directly overhead). 
  • It does not use any facial recognition, and does not match, biometrically measure or otherwise identify anyone’s face or body. 
  • Woolworths holds footage captured by Scan Assist in a secure system for 30 days, using the blurring techniques described above. Sometimes, blurred footage is retained longer, for the purposes of conducting an investigation or training in-store team members. 

On a quarterly basis, a small sample of unblurred footage is used to improve the technology’s ability to recognise when a customer may require team member support at the checkout — creating a better and more seamless customer experience. This footage is subsequently deleted.

Staff member smiling at the checkout register.

Picklist Assist


Picklist Assist cameras are located at self-service checkouts in Woolworths Supermarkets. They help facilitate an efficient checkout by using camera vision technology with machine learning to recognise the colours, shapes and sizes of fruits and vegetables, and displaying suggested options on the screen. 

For example, if you place bananas on the scanner, the camera will narrow the products shown on your checkout screen down to banana varieties and similar-looking produce. Over time, machine learning will help to provide more accurate suggestions as it learns to differentiate between similar-looking fruits and vegetables. The technology only recognises fruits and vegetables. It does not collect, capture or store images of customers; although there may be very limited circumstances where a customer's hand is imaged by the camera.

picklist assist

Retention of camera footage


Generally, we retain images collected via in-store technologies (including footage that may contain your image) for a maximum of 60 days. In limited circumstances, we may retain this information for longer due to legal reasons e.g. an investigation at Police request or an incident in store, or for team member training to improve how our customers receive assistance at the checkout (e.g. if items can’t be scanned).

In limited circumstances, we share footage collected from inside the store with the Police, other retailers or legal advisers, for incident, safety or criminal investigations.