Wakefern Food Corp. ramps up Focal Systems tech pilot

US retailer Wakefern Food Corp. is expanding a pilot involving Focal Systems from four to 50 stores.

Focal’s shelf camera-based system captures images of store shelves in order to calculate what is out-of-stock. “Their out-of-stock detection through computer vision and artificial intelligence has enabled us to automatically identify shelf gaps,” says Cheryl Williams, CIO at Wakefern.

“Each detection is sent directly to Wakefern’s proprietary mobile application, which prioritises out-of-stocks by department, aisle, and in-stock availability. Our stores have seen time savings and operational improvements by incorporating the new information into their daily tasks. This early success has encouraged our members to opt into a 50 store pilot expansion this autumn.”

Focal has thus far deployed its system to over 10 retailers worldwide.