Simbe Robotics has extended the reach of its Store Intelligence platform with a set of tools designed to tighten oversight of fresh and prepared food departments — a perennial pain point for grocers battling shrink, spoilage and the expectations of increasingly convenience‑minded shoppers. According to the original Retail Technology Innovation Hub report, the vendor’s update pairs its existing Tally autonomous shelf‑scanning robot with fixed sensors, immersive panoramic imaging and time‑lapse aisle views to give headquarters and regional teams near‑real‑time sightlines into produce, deli, bakery and grab‑and‑go zones.

At the core of the package remains Tally, the autonomous shelf‑scanning robot that Simbe says digitises shelving with a mix of 2D/3D sensing, computer vision and optional RFID to deliver frequent scans of packaged fresh goods. The company claims Tally can detect out‑of‑stocks, pricing anomalies and planogram deviations multiple times per day and integrate alerts into store workflows to prioritise associate tasks. Complementing the mobile robot, Simbe has introduced Tally Spot — a fixed‑sensor solution intended for high‑turnover, high‑risk micro‑zones such as rotisserie chickens, pre‑cut fruit and hot deli counters — and the vendor says the two modalities together form an industry‑first multimodal offering. These product descriptions and capability claims come from Simbe’s public product pages and the company’s press materials.

Simbe has also pushed forward its remote‑viewing features: Virtual Tour stitches Tally imagery into immersive panoramic walkthroughs while Aisle Views produce time‑lapse shelf imagery, enabling remote assessment of merchandising, freshness and compliance without travel to stores. The company’s prior announcements frame these features as a way to reduce the need for frequent store visits and to speed coaching and resolution of execution issues across multi‑site operations. Simbe positions these tools as extensions of its Store Intelligence analytics and mobile tasking.

On the business case, Simbe points to operational gains and sustainability wins. In company material the vendor reports an 8.5‑times improvement in shelf visibility versus manual audits and says more frequent scans enable earlier replenishment, lower perishables waste and reduced estimated greenhouse gas emissions. Simbe also promotes a perishable‑focused capability, Tally 360, which it says gives daily visual oversight of fresh departments and supports data‑driven merchandising and replenishment. Those figures and examples are drawn from Simbe’s own reporting and case material, and the company frames them as indicative of the platform’s potential to change routine store operations.

Industry voices underline why the capability matters. “Fresh is table stakes for differentiating the customer offer from online and value players, and timing of the execution is a recurring issue that loses the sale and erodes shopper trust. Simbe's fresh capabilities are a complete game‑changer for keeping eyes on what shoppers see,” Bennett Morgan, former EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer at SpartanNash, told Retail Technology Innovation Hub. The comment reflects a wider retailer focus on execution in perishables as a means of preserving basket spend and customer trust.

Simbe’s announcements also highlight practical deployment choices: modular installation options for fixed sensors, support for Intel RealSense sensing, pilot partnerships and roadmaps that further integrate mobile, fixed and RFID data into near‑real‑time storeside analytics. The company’s materials stress shopper‑friendly robot design and integration with mobile apps to route tasks to store associates, but these are vendor statements that prospective customers should validate locally against existing systems and store routines.

The launch sits squarely within a broader industry drive to bring more automation and sensor fusion into bricks‑and‑mortar grocery: retailers are under pressure to close online/physical experience gaps while cutting waste and improving margins. The Retail Technology Innovation Hub notes grocery retail will be a focal area for the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, which are open for entries and culminate in a winners’ ceremony in Central London on 16 October 2025 — a sign that vendors and retailers alike are prioritising fresh‑food solutions in the current innovation cycle. As ever, the most useful next steps for retailers will be measured pilots, transparent third‑party verification of detection rates and a clear integration plan that balances technology benefits against upfront costs and operational change.

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Source: Noah Wire Services