Kum & Go keeps products on the shelves

A regional convenience store chain is applying artificial intelligence (AI) to make it easier for brick-and-mortar customers to find and buy their desired items.

After a successful six-month deployment across half of its 400 stores, Kum & Go is rolling out CB4's AI solution for store teams chainwide. The retailer is focusing on improving its in-store experience by solving buyability issues that make it difficult for customers to purchase products. Buyability issues include presentation problems, difficult-to-find and out-of-stock products, and unclear pricing and promotional signs.

The CB4 app alerts Kum & Go store teams when they're missing out on opportunities to maximize sales for products that local customers want. Associates can check on the product and make a quick fix, such as replenishing products left in the stock room, escalating out-of-stocks, and correcting ticketing errors. 

Kum & Go has discovered that roughly one-quarter of the issues identified via CB4 have been related to presentation. Because of high retail labor costs and limited store team availability, CB4 alerts associates to only the most important opportunities in each store.

The retailer has been enhancing its ability to promote and provide specific products that customers want since summer 2020. In June, Kum & Go deployed the Catalina Buyervision solution to deliver personalized digital media that is measured in near-real-time by actual in-store purchases, rather than impressions or clicks. And in August, the company rolled out the RangeMe online product discovery platform to connect with suppliers that can provide products that consumers want, based on selective and specific search criteria.

"Kum & Go is preparing to move to an all-store rollout of CB4 based on the successes we have found over the first six months," said Kum & Go VP of operations Marty Roush. "We're seeing measurable sales lift at the item level by identifying operational execution opportunities uniquely tailored to each store."

Kum & Go operates 400 stores in 11 states: Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.