Experts say grocery stores can easily prevent self-checkout shoplifting

The increase in the number of shoplifting cases correlating with the increased use of self-checkouts should be easy to prevent. New technologies are already being widely used abroad that make theft virtually impossible, experts say.

Jumbo announced on Wednesday that the supermarket group suffered more than 100 million euros in damage due to shoplifting in the past year, approximately 1 percent of its turnover. It was the first time that a major supermarket has published figures about this.

Since the introduction of the self-checkout, the number of shoplifters in supermarkets has increased significantly, although precise figures are missing. The more self-checkouts there are, the more thefts there are, according to international research.

Retail expert Eelco Hos said significant advances are being made with artificial intelligence (AI), image recognition or cameras that flawlessly monitor which products a customer takes out of the store. These tactics are being employed more frequently abroad. "The notorious thief who shamelessly walks out with a full bag will continue to exist for a while, but the vast majority of thefts and errors at the cash register can be prevented this way. And these techniques will undeniably be introduced here too," Hos said.

The current self-checkout systems are only an "intermediate phase" on the way to a much smarter system for shopping, shopping expert Paul Moers believes. For example, last year a trial was conducted in Utrecht with a completely cashier-free ALDI supermarket, in which cameras and sensors registered which products a customer collected, and charged them accordingly.

According to Moers, these types of new payment systems will also become commonplace in the Netherlands. This is more likely to happen within five years, but could take a bit longer, he said.