Northeast Grocery Pilots Inventory and Price-Checking Robots in 10 Stores

Northeast Grocery is testing in-store robots designed to detect out-of-stocks and inaccurate prices in 10 upstate New York stores. The Tally robots from Simbe will roam the aisles of five Price Chopper/Market 32 and five Tops Friendly Markets stores through January 2025, when Northeast Grocery will evaluate the pilot results to determine next steps that could include expanding the robots’ deployment to other supermarkets.

The robots will navigate store aisles at least three times per day and provide detailed reporting to give store and business intelligence teams daily actionable data. To avoid startling customers as they move through the store, the robots make subtle noises, and if the robot encounters a shopper it will either pause, go around them or turn around to come back later. Northeast Grocery is encouraging shoppers to provide feedback during the pilot program to help shape the future of this initiative.

“As a company, we are always looking for ways to innovate and enhance both our operations and the customer experience,” said Scott Kessler, EVP and CIO of Northeast Grocery in a statement. “The Tally robot allows us to address inventory and pricing challenges with incredible precision while giving our store teams the tools they need to focus on what matters most — serving our customers.”

In-store robots performing a variety of functions have been deployed with increasing frequency in recent years:

• In January 2022 Sam’s Club added inventory management functions to its fleet of nearly 600 robotic floor scrubbers from Brain Corp and Tennant Company chainwide;
• In March 2023 BJs Wholesale Club partnered with Simbe to roll out the Tally robots to all 237 stores;
• Stop & Shop enhanced the data-collection capabilities of the “Marty” robots from Badger Technologies in its stores in September 2023; and
• In February 2024, SpartanNash deployed Tally robots in 75 stores following a pilot program.