Country Supplier rolls out autonomous robots in stores
A regional Western farm and ranch retailer is leveraging robots to streamline a number of in-store workflows.
Country Supplier, which operates 55 C-A-L Ranch and Coastal Farm & Ranch stores across Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington, carries an inventory of more than 100,000 SKUs which shift with seasonal demand. Due to store size and product volume, it often took two weeks for Country Supplier to conduct manual scans of store shelves.
Following a successful pilot of the Simbe store intelligence platform, Farm Supply farm store intelligence solution and Tally autonomous item-scanning robot, the retailer is deploying this technology across all of its stores.
Tally robots utilize AI and computer vision to scan the store multiple times a day and read tags on various fixture types, including shelves, hooks, bins and top stock. The robots capture and processes images of shelf conditions in near real-time, translating inventory data into insights available on the Simbe platform and mobile app.
C-A-L Ranch and Coastal Farm & Home stores participating in the pilot have already seen results including a 25% improvement in on-shelf availability and a 90% improvement in price accuracy.
In addition, Country Supplier utilizes the Simbe Virtual Tour solution to view and walk stores remotely via Tally robots, reducing travel while optimizing layouts, ensuring compliance, and facilitating decision-making across multiple locations.
"Tally is redefining the way we run our business while working within our operational boundaries," said Mandi Dyer, COO, Country Supplier. "The Simbe teams’ dedication to understanding all aspects of our business needs and goals was instrumental in Tally’s successful implementation."
Over the next few months, Country Supplier will continue integrating Tally into all stores.
Wakefern Food Corp. expands Tally deployment
Grocery co-op Wakefern Food Corp. is also bringing automated shelf-scanning Simbe Tally robots to more locations of its ShopRite banner. Wakefern member Inserra Supermarkets, which owns and operates 23 ShopRite stores, and Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Inc. (SRS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wakefern that operates 37 ShopRite stores in New York and New Jersey, are implementing Tally.
Tally robots autonomously roam the grocer’s store aisles up to three times per day, leveraging computer vision technology to scan products to ensure they are in-stock, in the correct location, and accurately priced on the sales floor.
[READ MORE: ShopRite parent expands inventory robots to more stores]
