Dive Brief:

• SpartanNash announced Wednesday that it’s rolling out aisle-scanning robots from Simbe to 15 Family Fare and Martin’s Super Market stores in Indiana and Michigan.
• The expansion comes after the retailer and distributor piloted the use of Simbe’s Tally robot at select D&W Fresh Market stores.
• SpartanNash joins fellow retailers BJ’s Wholesale Club and Schnucks in expanding the use of Tally bots at its stores, while other retailers are deploying alternative solutions to monitor stock levels and help digitize store operations. 

Dive Insight:

With this, SpartanNash becomes the latest retailer to ramp up the use of aisle-scanning robots that gather shelf-level data used to help measure product performance, monitor product stock levels and more.

Tally uses 3D computer vision technology to capture between 15,000 and 30,000 products per hour across store departments, including frozen and refrigerated departments. Simbe’s latest version of the bot, Tally 3.0, includes sharper optical technology than previous versions and utilizes the NVidia GPU platform to process data at the shelf edge and on the cloud, according to Simbe’s website.

In a video accompanying the announcement, Tally can be seen sporting a D&W logo on top and an introductory sign for customers that reads, “I check shelf inventory.” The bot conveys messages to shoppers about the tasks that it’s doing, as well, such as “Stock Check!” and “Going Home.”

BJ’s Wholesale Club recently announced plans to roll out Simbe’s aisle-scanning robots to all of its locations, while Schnucks did the same in 2021. Other retailers like Hy-Vee and Save Mart have also partnered with Simbe.

But the technology hasn’t resonated with every retailer that has tested it. In 2020, Walmart ended its contract with Bossa Nova Robotics after the retailer concluded it wanted to use different technology to track shelf inventory levels.