Asda is rolling out the Auror digital crime reporting and intelligence platform across its entire UK store estate after a successful trial in 30 London stores, as retailers step up efforts to tackle rising levels of shop theft and violence.
The supermarket said the pilot significantly improved how retail crime was reported and prevented, helping colleagues identify repeat offenders more effectively and direct security resources where they were most needed.
The nationwide deployment comes just a day after the Metropolitan Police announced it was expanding its use of Auror following a pilot which delivered a fourfold increase in the proportion of shoplifting cases resulting in charges, cautions or other positive criminal justice outcomes, underlining growing momentum behind digital collaboration between retailers and police.
Auror is a crime reporting and intelligence platform that consolidates information on incidents across participating retailers, allowing colleagues, businesses and law enforcement to identify prolific offenders, detect crime patterns and build stronger cases more efficiently.
During Asda's trial, CCTV footage relating to serious incidents and theft was reviewed by specially trained colleagues before being uploaded to the platform, where it was combined with reports from other retailers to support investigations and wider crime prevention.
The retailer stressed that no live facial recognition technology was used during the pilot or as part of the national rollout.
The expansion comes against a backdrop of escalating retail crime. According to the British Retail Consortium's latest Annual Crime Survey, retail workers experienced an average of 36 violent incidents involving a weapon and around 1,600 incidents of abuse or violence every day in 2025.
Auror's own UK data suggests that a relatively small number of prolific offenders are responsible for the majority of incidents, with 10 per cent of offenders accounting for 70 per cent of all retail crime. Those repeat offenders are also up to four times more likely to be violent or use a weapon.
David Lepley, chief operating officer at Asda, said the rollout would strengthen the retailer's ability to tackle retail crime.
“Rolling out Auror across our estate will further strengthen our ability to prevent and tackle retail crime,” he said. “The results from our London pilot demonstrated the value of having a faster and more effective way to report incidents and identify repeat offenders in real time.
“By working more closely with police and retailers through a shared intelligence network, we can focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact and help to tackle retail crime.”
Mark Gleeson, general manager for the UK and Europe at Auror, said Asda's rollout highlighted the benefits of intelligence sharing across retailers.
“It's fantastic to see retailers like Asda unite to take a stand against the top 10 per cent of offenders causing 70 per cent of retail crime and take back UK's high streets,” he said.
“Auror has made it 80 per cent faster to record crime for Asda colleagues and early pilot results saw the team identify dozens of prolific repeat offenders, with the majority known to offend at stores owned by other retail brands within the Auror Network. This is why the network effect is key to getting on top of this problem.”
He added that closer digital collaboration between retailers and police was helping businesses better understand offending patterns and focus resources on repeat, organised and violent offenders.
The rollout forms part of Asda's wider investment in colleague safety. The retailer said it has invested more than £90 million over the past two years in security measures including body-worn cameras, enhanced CCTV, security barriers and other in-store improvements.