A recent survey of store managers who use Simbe’s inventory robot cited multiple benefits that span productivity, sales, and customer lifetime value; nearly 90% don’t want to do their job without Tally
SAN FRANCISCO — Simbe, the leading provider of Store Intelligence™ solutions, unveiled new data from its first annual Store Team Technology Sentiment Report. In a recent survey of nearly 200 store managers who use Simbe’s inventory robot, Tally, the majority of respondents cited multiple positive impacts of the technology. As an increasing majority of retailers invest in automation to strengthen their businesses and improve the in-store experience, these results reinforce the value of deploying technology across store chains and confirm the direct benefits to teams, while positioning Simbe as the only provider with proven results at scale.
Increasing store team retention, operational excellence and cost discipline are top priorities for retailers today. The quit rate for retail workers is more than 70% higher than other US industries, with labor turnover reaching 95% in recent years – in part due to a lack of proper tools for tasks like inventory management, which associates consistently cite as the worst store team responsibility. In fact, most retail workers wish they had access to better technology to use at work, so they can spend less time on these tedious, manual tasks, and more time with customers. Further, 9 in 10 retailers report that in-store inefficiencies like out-of-stocks and price & promotion execution cost at least 5% revenue annually. According to Coresight, addressing these issues would drive an additional revenue opportunity of $127.9 billion in 2024.
Simbe’s latest survey demonstrates Tally’s differentiated ability to alleviate these retail pain points and create a more efficient, sustainable working environment for retail workers:
- Store teams don’t want to do their jobs without Tally. Nearly 90% of store managers who worked alongside Tally are happy with the experience and would like to keep using the robot.
- Store teammates say Tally improves customer service. Serving shoppers is store teams’ favorite responsibility, and Tally lets them do more of what they love most. By automating monotonous tasks, Tally saves teammates up to 50 hours each week – and 3 of 4 store managers say they better support shoppers as a result.
- Tally increases operational efficiencies. 9 of 10 store managers say Tally makes their jobs easier. For example, Tally’s pick path optimization lets store teams quickly and easily find items for online orders, which cuts order fulfillment times in half.
- Stores using Tally sell more and have stronger customer loyalty. 85% of store managers using Tally think that the robot helps them sell more and encourages consumer loyalty by creating a better shopping experience.
- Tally improves store team retention. The majority of store teams feel more fulfilled by their work since Tally joined their team. Since fulfillment is a key driver of employee retention, this is especially important as retailers face some of the worst labor shortages in history.
- Tally helps store teams be more productive. Three fourths of store managers say Tally creates better processes for their team, and most report that they are more productive and efficient as a result of using the robot.
“As a former retail store manager, I experienced firsthand the inefficiencies of manually managing inventory and its impact on business operations and team morale,” said Jeremy Wortsman, Senior Director of Customer Success at Simbe. “We’re pleased that this inaugural survey so fully quantifies the impact of our technology on operational excellence in retail, as well as store teams’ daily experience and overall fulfillment in their roles. Only Simbe’s customers have produced such results at scale for years, and as we deploy Tally to thousands of new stores in response to increasing demand, we’re committed to keeping a pulse on store team sentiment.”
Deployed across dozens of major retailers globally, Simbe’s platform is the leading store intelligence solution proven to drive operational excellence and capital efficiencies by providing retailers with business-critical insight into product placement, pricing, and inventory availability. The results stemming from the Store Team Technology Sentiment Report further cement Simbe’s category leadership, thanks to its number of customers, expansions, and chain-wide deployments across three continents.
A more comprehensive look at the data can be found here and will be discussed from the GroceryTech mainstage by Simbe customers. To access the findings in more depth, Simbe is hosting a webinar: Real Talk: What Using Robots in Retail Stores is Really Like. More information and registration details here.
Methodology
Data in this report are as of May 1, 2024. Informing the data in this report is an online survey of 174 store managers at US-based retailers conducted by Simbe during April 1 – April 20, 2024. The store managers surveyed have been leveraging Simbe’s inventory robot, Tally, for six months or greater. The results have a margin of error of +/-7% at a 95% confidence level.
About Simbe
Simbe’s market-leading Store Intelligence™ platform increases retailer performance with unprecedented visibility and near real-time insights. Cutting-edge AI and robotics power business-critical intelligence that streamlines inventory management and store operations, while elevating store teams and shoppers’ experiences.
Simbe’s comprehensive platform includes the world’s first autonomous, item-scanning robot, Tally, which identifies exact product location, stock level, and pricing & promotion information with market-leading computer vision. Simbe works with top worldwide brands in the US, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.simberobotics.com.
