Robots to Revolutionize Shopping Experience, Augusto Beato Forecasts

Portland SEO's Augusto Beato sees more robots being utilized in groceries in 2019 to undertake more responsibilities in leveraging their data-gathering strengths.

He was reacting to news that Tesco is expanding its robot delivery scheme for Britain's Supermarket customers. The service is also being offered by Monkston Co-op in Milton Keynes.

Customers who live near the Kingston Centre Tesco and nearby Monkston Co-op can place their order using a smartphone app from the robots’ operators Starship Technologies for a £1 delivery fee.

The robots, the size of a large suitcase, can carry the equivalent of two bags of shopping and navigate using GPS.

According to IHL Group, global retailers lose nearly $450 billion in revenue annually as a result of empty shelves and other in-store inventory inconsistencies. As most grocers have discovered, fixing mismarked, misplaced or missing inventory using conventional means—mostly manual—is time-consuming and costly. Using robots fixes the problem.

Fitted with cameras and sensors to avoid bumping into objects, people and animals, they travel on pavements at up to 4mph and take around 15 minutes to deliver. These self-contained rolling assistants are roaming store aisles while capturing and sharing valuable data to boost efficiencies, financial performance, and customer satisfaction.

Autonomous robots can automate the entire process while continuously scanning shelves to capture data about pricing, planograms and inventory levels.

Robots with reading access to all pertinent in-store data can be aligned with other essential store systems, such as lighting, refrigeration, and security, to streamline operations for connected stores of the future.

"It’s clear that multipurpose robots are primed to transform store operations by empowering grocers with better insights into everything from store inventory to spills and other potential hazards," said Beato, who is the CEO of Portland SEO. "The ability to gain real-time visibility into what’s happening throughout the store is essential to acting quickly and decisively on multiple fronts."

Online merchants can also reach out to Augusto Beato for advice by clicking here.

With grocery robots, all information collected at the store level can be compiled and then shared as custom dashboards or reports to provide far-reaching insight into store operations. Predictive analytics performed on store performance data collected from multiple locations can offer more accurate and meaningful business insights into individual, regional, seasonal and corporate performance.

The opportunity to automate hazard detection and reporting also can improve audit and compliance operations while elevating overall risk management — the result: Safer stores and reduced insurance costs.