BUY SPY

Sunday Mirror
Aug. 21, 2005

SUPERMARKET trolleys could soon be fitted with transmitters to track the habits of shoppers.

They will monitor how long customers spend in each area, the products they buy and the time spent waiting at the checkout.

The information will be stored on a giant database to enable retail chiefs to build up the biggest-ever picture of our weekly buying habits.

They insist the information will be used to boost efficiency and improve the layout of stores.

But civil liberty campaigners claim the surveillance system gives supermarket's a dangerous tool that could be used to invade people's privacy and track their movements.

Doug Jewell of Liberty said: "We're moving into Big Brother land here. If they are monitoring shopping patterns it is all right. But if they link this information to individual shoppers, it's very scary."

The transmitter is smaller than a 10p piece and gives off a radio signal which is picked up by scanners placed at different locations around the store.

Last month Tesco carried out a £100,000 pilot scheme at one of its stores in South Korea.

Spokesman Greg Sage said the system was not intended to monitor individual shoppers. He said: "The purpose is to look at how we can improve the layout of stores and whether we should give more space to certain products.""