SKU’d Thoughts 21: How are grocers using automation to step up their game?

Most retail sectors are looking for profitable ways to revive the in-store experience and optimize behind-the-scenes operations. Grocers are no different. They are turning to automation and robotics to improve customer experience, operational efficiency, and accuracy. In my opinion, if a grocer isn’t already implementing automation, they have already fallen behind.

Here are 5 grocers and how they are using technology to improve customer and overall operations.

Amazon Go.

Amazon’s convenience store concept enables customers to buy products without being checked out by a cashier or using a self-checkout station. Amazon Go is currently in 11 locations across three U.S. cities, with an ambitious expansion goal of 3,000 stores by 2021. According to McKinsey & Co., the “additional transacting traffic from reduced wait times and the use of customer insights to optimize assortments and personalize promotions” of Amazon Go roughly translates to 5–10% in revenue improvement.

Kroger

Kroger in partnership with Microsoft launched EDGE (Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment) in 200 stores last year. The technology is a digital shelf that displays prices, nutrition facts, coupons, and video advertisements, all of which are dynamically updatable from a central source. The grocer plans to link EDGE to shoppers’ smartphones, allowing an increased level of personalization. The overall benefits of the technology are: enhanced shopping experience to consumers, more effective at-the-shelf marketing and merchandising, and improved operational efficiency.

Albertsons

In 2018, Albertsons partnered with Takeoff Technologies, a retail technology startup, to test in-store e-commerce fulfillment system. The artificial intelligence-enabled technology will read grocery orders online, collect the items, and deliver them to an Albertsons employee for delivery or pick-up prep. This fulfillment system reduces the amount of time for individual customer orders to get processed and ready for delivery or pick-up.

Walmart

After successful pilots, Walmart plans to expand its use of autonomous robots as in-store assistants. The robots are tasked with functions that include checking inventory, store maintenance, sorting products and fulfilling online orders. This use case frees up store associates to spend more time serving customers on the sales floor. The initial pilot started with 78 locations and the expansion plan intends to have robot assistants in 360 stores, with the goal of having their stores run more smoothly.

Target

Target announced it would add 500 automatic cash-counting machines to stores by August 2018 and then roll them out to the rest of its locations by the end of last year. In theory, this initiative would free up employees that previously spent their time manually counting cash to help shoppers. This move aligns with Target’s goal of being “America’s easiest place to shop”, as it automates repeatable tasks and enables employees to spend more time developing expertise on products or customer service which will directly impact customer experience.

The use of technology in grocery ensures that chains can provide a more consistent experience both online and offline. As stores perfect automation technologies, they can reduce costs and improve on their razor-thin margins. This proliferation of technology is also advantageous for startups working on innovative ideas to make the grocery shopping experience a seamless one for customers and grocers.

Crossed posted on Medium