The new technology that will make it impossible for scammers to steal from self-serve checkouts and save supermarkets millions

  • New technology uses cameras at self-serve area to identify a customer's product
  • The Aussie idea uses automated product recognition removing need for barcode
  • Spots difference between a red delicious and royal gala apple, co-founder said 
  • Retail and self-serve theft costs Australian retailers more than $9 billion per year
  • 'You can't pretend an avocado is an onion,' co-founder Chris Sampson said 

By SAM LOCK FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: | Updated:

A new Australian technology using product recognition cameras may stop theft at self-service checkouts.  

Customers have cost Australian supermarkets billions from scamming self-service checkouts since they were introduced in Australia ten years ago.

Supermarket shoplifters commonly scan expensive products, recording them as cheaper items or even swap barcodes. 

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Tiliter Technology, founded by Martin Karafilis (pictured) Marcel Herz and Chris Sampson, has developed product recognition cameras at self-service checkouts to prevent theft 

Tiliter Technology, founded by Martin Karafilis (pictured) Marcel Herz and Chris Sampson, has developed product recognition cameras at self-service checkouts to prevent theft 

A new Australian technology using product recognition cameras may stop theft at self-service checkouts by using automated product recognition and removing the need for barcodes

A new Australian technology using product recognition cameras may stop theft at self-service checkouts by using automated product recognition and removing the need for barcodes

But an Australian technology start-up has developed an automated product recognition system in order to stop customers scamming the checkouts.

Tiliter's smart checkout technology uses a camera at the self-serve area to identify a customer's product and then automatically enters the information into the supermarket's point-of-sale system. 

It also removes the need for barcodes or manually entering additional information, Tiliter co-founder Chris Sampson said. 

'It's based on machine learning and artificial intelligence which has been taught to recognise different types of fruit and other products,' he told news.com.au. 

Mr Sampson said the technology was so sophisticated it would be able to tell the difference between a red delicious and royal gala apple, and between a truss tomato and a gourmet.

'You can't pretend an avocado is an onion,' he said. 

He said the technology's benefits were two-fold: it would streamline the customer's shopping experience, cutting down time spent at the check-out and simultaneously deter theft.

Woolworths has confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the supermarket has no plans to implement the technology but other independent grocers may adopt the concept.

Tiliter's smart checkout technology uses a camera at the self-serve area to identify a customer's product

Tiliter's smart checkout technology uses a camera at the self-serve area to identify a customer's product

Woolworths has confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the supermarket has no plans to implement the technology but other independent grocers may adopt the concept 

Woolworths has confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the supermarket has no plans to implement the technology but other independent grocers may adopt the concept 

'Self-service checkout is an incredibly popular and convenient option for customers short on time, and we know the vast majority of shoppers do the right thing when using them,' a spokesperson said. 

'Of course, we have comprehensive security measures in place for those that don't.'

Daily Mail Australia has also contacted Coles for comment.   

In light of retail theft costing Australian retailers $9.3 billion per year, retailers across the country are looking into other technologies to prevent self-service theft.    

Mr Sampson said the technology was so sophisticated it would be able to tell the difference between a red delicious and royal gala apple

Mr Sampson said the technology was so sophisticated it would be able to tell the difference between a red delicious and royal gala apple

US company Stoplift also uses camera and video technology to view customers at the checkout, with alerts sent to staff when incorrectly scanned items are captured.   

Supermarkets and retailers need to embrace these new technologies, Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers' Association's executive director said. 

'Retailers need to up the ante to ensure they capture everything that they possibly can to eliminate the cost of retail theft in their stores,' he told news.com.au.   

 

In February last year a mother from Ipswich, Queensland was caught red-handed after she stole $4,500 worth of groceries from Coles and Woolworths by scanning every single item as a packet of 72 cent noodles.

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The woman glued the barcode of cut price fried noodles onto expensive slabs of meat, $200 coffee machines and other household products over a three-month period.

Her plot was foiled by a Woolworths employee who watched her at a checkout and she was sentenced to a nine month suspended jail sentence.

A 'poor' German backpacker was fined $100 this week after he failed to scan through expensive meat, bacon and cheese while at a self-serve register.

The man was caught after he only scanned through a portion of his groceries and attempted to bag unpaid items, a method used by many checkout thieves.

In light of retail theft costing Australian retailers $9.3 billion per year, retailers across the country are looking into other technologies to prevent self-service theft

In light of retail theft costing Australian retailers $9.3 billion per year, retailers across the country are looking into other technologies to prevent self-service theft

 

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