Tesco in talks over facial recognition tech for stores

The supermarket giant Tesco is examining facial recognition technology that could help it recognise high-value shoppers and shoplifters, according to NEC.

NEC senior marketing coordinator George Gimenez told ZDNet UK at the Unified Communications (UC) Expo 2011 in London that Tesco is interested in the technology, called Neoface, because it could help the company identify its top customers as they walk into a branch. Once recognised, those customers would then be offered a personal shopper, he said.

Tesco is also keen on using Neoface to make sure that shoplifters banned from one store would be quickly identified and ejected when they visit another branch, Gimenez suggested.

Tesco had not provided comment on its plans to use facial recognition technology at the time of writing.