Hy-Vee Partners with Simbe to Provide Enhanced Customer Experience
September 23, 2021 | News & Press Releases
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (Sept. 23, 2021) – Hy-Vee, Inc. announces a partnership with Simbe 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.
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. Tally is a power tool and productivity driver for store teams, providing them with actionable insights that can reduce out-of-stocks by up to 30 percent, allowing teams to focus on more engaging tasks such as servicing customers.
“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 at 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, Tally helps streamline operations and ensures that retailers can provide the best customer experience in-store, in addition to making better, more informed business decisions – like more accurate order forecasting and optimizing the store layout to support sales. This rich 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.
Tally requires no infrastructure changes to the store environment to operate effectively and is thoughtfully designed to be unobtrusive to the shopper’s experience. The robot strategically navigates store aisles during normal store hours, safely maneuvering alongside shoppers and employees.
“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, Neb., and will be rolling out to locations in Lee's Summit, Mo., Omaha, Neb., and Altoona, Iowa, in the coming weeks.
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About Hy-Vee, Inc.
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 280 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $11 billion annually. The supermarket chain is synonymous with quality, variety, convenience, healthy lifestyles, culinary expertise and superior customer service. Hy-Vee ranks in the Top 10 Most Trusted Brands and has been named one of America’s Top 5 favorite grocery stores. The company’s more than 86,000 employees provide “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle” to customers every day. For additional information, visit www.hy-vee.com.
About Simbe Robotics
Simbe Robotics is the global leader in automation solutions that give retailers unprecedented visibility and insight into the state of their store environments, while improving inventory and operational challenges. Simbe is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in San Francisco, CA and works with major worldwide retailers and brands across the US, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.simberobotics.com or follow the company at @simberobotics.
About Tally™
Tally is the world’s first fully autonomous in-store product auditing solution. Tally works in concert with retail store associates by empowering them with timely information to ensure products are always stocked, in the right place and correctly priced. Using a suite of sensors, the robot operates safely during normal store hours alongside shoppers and employees and doesn’t require any infrastructure changes to the store. Tally’s design is intuitive, friendly, and fits naturally into the retail environment. The robot scans entire stores up to three times per day and autonomously returns to its dock allowing for continuous operation. Combined with Simbe’s cloud-powered software platform, powered by computer vision and machine learning, retailers have unprecedented information and insight into the state of their stores. This information can be used to streamline store performance, maximize customer satisfaction, increase sales, and optimize operational expenditures.