Tech-linked fall in violent retail crime in New Zealand

New Zealand retailers recorded a decline in incidents involving weapons, violence, and threatening behaviour over the first ten months of 2025, according to retail crime intelligence company Auror.

Data for January to October 2025 showed a 12% fall in the use of weapons compared with the same period in 2024. Violent events fell by 6%, while threatening events dropped by 5%.

By contrast, Australian retailers experienced rises over the same period, with a 12% increase in the use of weapons, a 17% increase in violent incidents, and a 20% rise in threatening behaviour.

Auror, headquartered in Auckland, provides reporting software used by large retailers in New Zealand and across more than 50,000 stores globally.

New Zealand trend

Auror framed the decline in New Zealand as a shift in the trajectory of violent retail crime, though overall levels remain a concern for retailers and frontline staff.

"While both violent and non-violent crime targeting retailers remains a significant problem, we are now seeing retailers record fewer incidents involving weapons, violence and threats of violence," said Phil Thomson, Co-Founder and CEO of Auror.

Thomson described the results as a milestone for retailers and policing.

"This is an important milestone in the work being done to get on top of this issue as a country, and shows New Zealand is leading the way," he said.

Auror's dataset shows that around one in five retail crime events involve verbal or physical abuse, intimidation, threats, violence, or the use of weapons. Repeat offenders have a disproportionate impact: the top 10% account for more than 60% of all retail crime events recorded in the system and are six times more likely to be violent.

Technology focus

Auror attributes the New Zealand decline to changes in reporting and coordination across retailers and police, enabled by technology adoption.

"These figures have been achieved through early adoption of technology by Kiwi retailers and Police to surface the historically underreported issue of retail crime and the fresh focus from government and Police on dealing with retail crime," Thomson said.

He added that the next phase involves extending these improvements to smaller retailers:

"The challenge now is to drive it down, including for smaller retailers, through continued policy, policing, and focus on technology."

Australia contrast

The Australian data provides a different context for retailers operating across both markets, showing increases in weapons, violence, and threatening behaviour, with the largest rise in threatening events. Auror controlled its analysis to account for changes in its footprint and engagement, defining violent events as physical assault, use of weapons, serious damage, or aggression, and threatening events as verbal abuse, threats, or other serious behaviours.

Ongoing risk

Despite the positive trends in New Zealand, violence in retail continues to affect frontline staff.

"There is still much more to be done - violence in retail is still a huge challenge and is impacting frontline workers," Thomson said.

He outlined Auror's target for its work with retailers and police:

"But, we can see green shoots - Auror's mission with our partners is to reduce violent retail crime by 50% in 5 years, and these trends are fantastic to see as we work to turn the tide on this issue."

Thomson highlighted the role of policing, retail security teams, and technology in shaping outcomes:

"There is no substitute for the incredible work police do in our communities, or the work retailers do to keep us all safe when we shop, but through technology and strong collaboration, we can help them be as effective and efficient as possible, and drive these rates down further."