WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — Hy-Vee, Inc., has partnered with Simbe to roll out its autonomous inventory management and retail intelligence solution, Tally, to stores across Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri to improve the instore experience for customers and store teams. 

Tally enables retailers to improve the customer experience through more frequent and accurate inventory, pricing and promotion information. 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, in the correct location, and correctly priced. 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%, 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.” 

Tally can provide accurate order forecasting and help retailers optimize the store layout to support sales. This rich data, combined with Tally’s plug-and-play software platform and APIs, will provide Hy-Vee with unprecedented insights into the state of its stores, giving 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 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, chief executive officer 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.” 

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