Automate Your Inventory Tracking with Inventory Scanning

Inventory tracking can be a time-consuming task. However, accurate inventory data is crucial to ensuring that the right products are in the right locations to meet customer needs. According to the Food Industry Association, the average U.S. supermarket spans 48,466 square feet and stocks 31,119 items. That’s a lot of shelf space to cover if employees are manually tracking inventory. Add in changing shopping habits and ongoing supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, and keeping up with in-store inventory becomes more important—and more challenging—than ever. Additionally, tight labor markets make this time- and labor-intensive task even more costly.

Automate Inventory Scanning to Maximize Retail Labor Efficiency

But what if your employees didn’t have to walk down every aisle, count manually, or use a handheld store inventory scanner? TSM All Clean partnered with TSM to create an innovative solution that turns your TSM robotic floor scrubber into an automated inventory management solution.

Employees and customers are already accustomed to automation at checkout, thanks to self-checkout lanes. They’re ready for it in other parts of the store, too. Inventory scanning uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze video feeds and track what products are on which shelves. By leveraging advanced analytics and computer vision technologies, Inventory Scan automates shelf counting, freeing employees to focus on high-value tasks that only a human can perform.

5 Key Benefits of Inventory Scanning

The value of automated inventory tracking extends beyond labor cost savings. Key benefits include:

1. Optimized Inventory Availability: Inventory Scan can integrate with your current inventory system to provide greater accuracy. Now you can gather essential data on which products are available in which stores, whether your company has regional outlets or hundreds of stores worldwide, ensuring customers can find what they want in the right location.

2. Pricing Accuracy Insights: Few moments are more uncomfortable for your staff than when a customer points out a pricing inaccuracy. Inventory Scan ensures that store signage, shelf pricing, and your point-of-sale system remain synchronized.

3. Real-Time Product and Store Mapping: Are some of your store shelves consistently well-stocked while others look like the toilet paper aisle in March 2020? With real-time product and store mapping capabilities, Inventory Scan enables you to optimize and adjust store layout and product placement strategies to manage current shortages and accommodate changing shopping habits.

4. Enhanced Planogram Compliance: Ensure that sales floor shelves look as they should in every store with high-resolution, real-time images and analytics. These high-quality metrics can improve supplier relations at a time when all retailers are vying for products.

5. Smart Labor Redeployment: Automated inventory scanning doesn’t replace retail workers. Instead, this technology enables a “co-bot” approach, working alongside your staff to reduce human error and allow your employees to focus on roles and responsibilities only a human can fulfill. Redistributing your workforce for high-value tasks and management roles can increase job satisfaction and retention.

Dual-Purpose Equipment: Autonomous Cleaning Equipped with Inventory Scanning

Inventory Scan not only provides multiple benefits but also represents a multipurpose investment for your business. A robotic floor scrubber equipped with Inventory Scan technology offers you a two-in-one smart machine.

Currently, robotic floor scrubbers can’t clean floors and scan shelves in the same aisle pass, but these dual-purpose machines provide multiple efficiencies:

• Robotic floor scrubbers reduce the amount of equipment required in each store.
• One piece of equipment for two tasks means employees don’t need additional training to cover both inventory and floor cleaning responsibilities.
• Similar mapping tasks and AI training apply to both floor scrubbing and inventory scanning capabilities, so a dual-purpose machine doesn’t require double the management workload.

Elevate Employee Responsibilities to Boost Retention

Labor shortages are impacting nearly every industry, with front-line retail labor being hit disproportionately. A report found that 80% of food retailers are facing labor shortages that negatively impact their businesses. Even if your business can fill open positions, quarantines and childcare closures due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic mean even your most reliable employees may call out at much higher rates than pre-COVID norms.

There’s no silver bullet to eliminate labor shortages in retail or improve employee retention, but making smarter use of the staff you have can help. Employees who take pride in their work are more likely to stay with an employer. Even simple changes, like replacing a pen and clipboard with a spreadsheet and planogram, can make employees feel valued while reducing labor costs and turnover.

Learn more about how TSM can help you automate inventory tracking.