Redner’s uses artificial intelligence technology to target thieves | Berks Regional News

WYOMISSING, Pa. – A Berks County-based grocery store chain is using AI to help stop thefts.

“We have software in place that’s proprietary and it is predictive analysis,” said Eric White, director of marketing and communications for Redner’s Warehouse Markets. “What it does is, it looks at trends through the self-checkouts and all the checkouts, in actuality, for irregularities.”

In short, Redner’s is using artificial intelligence software to target shoppers who may be leaving the store with more than what they appear to be buying.

“When it sees multiple purchases of low items with frequent guests, it starts to look at those things within the transactions and sends it to our loss prevention team,” explained White. “So, when they see these types of orders, they can then take a deeper dive.”

That’s when the human detective steps in to see what’s really happening.

“Is that person actually buying what they’re buying,” says White. “If they see that they’re not, then they can use the analysis to come back and try to be in the store with an actual agent [and] catch them in the act.”

The meat department is where Redner’s says it sees the most substantial losses.

“That’s usually what is the item being put into the cart as the other item is being scanned,” said White. “We had a guest that was stealing meat and cheese and they ran a charcuterie board catering business.”

Redner’s has seen more instances of this type of theft with the increasing popularity of self-checkouts. However, store officials say those aren’t going away anytime soon; technology will just keep evolving to give them more tools.

“This is more of us just trying to recoup where we can and curb those individuals from taking advantage of those little cracks that are in the armor from a loss prevention standpoint,” White said.