WEST DES MOINES, IA - Robots are officially the future of grocery. Hy-Vee made this abundantly clear after announcing a partnership with Simbe Robotics to roll out its autonomous inventory management and retail intelligence solution, Tally, to stores across Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri to improve the in-store experience for customers and store teams.
“Hy-Vee has a strong reputation for excellent customer service and an employee-first culture,” said Luke Tingley, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Hy-Vee. “By employing Tally, we can continue providing that excellent service by reducing out of stocks and empowering our store teams with real-time insights to ensure the best customer experience across the board.”
By gaining greater visibility into store conditions, a press release explained, Tally helps streamline operations and ensures that retailers can make more informed business decisions, such as more accurate order forecasting and optimizing the store layout to support sales.
How does this work, you might ask? Tally autonomously scans tens of thousands of products across grocery, health, and wellness aisles up to three times per day to ensure products are in stock and in the correct location. This has proven to reduce out-of-stocks by up to 30 percent, allowing teams to focus on more engaging tasks such as servicing customers.
This data, combined with Tally’s plug-and-play software platform and APIs, gives employees real-time recommendations to improve store operations and maximize customer satisfaction, the release explained.
“No other retail solution supports store teams the way Tally does. The pandemic truly created a ‘new normal’ for grocery that has illuminated the need for a greater frequency and fidelity of in-store data,” said Brad Bogolea, CEO and Co-Founder of Simbe Robotics. “Hy-Vee is the perfect example of thoughtfully adopting technology to improve the store experience for both customers and their teams. As retailers face a growing number of considerations, Tally provides a cost-effective solution that ensures they can continue to provide excellent customer service and create a valuable, more enjoyable working environment for their employees.”
Tally robots are already in Hy-Vee stores in Ankeny, Iowa, and Lincoln, Nebraska, and will be rolling out to additional locations in Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa, in the coming weeks.
Exciting times ahead for the grocery sector!
