From inventory aisle-scanning robots that can shop and fulfill online orders to mobile wallet solutions that connect retailers’ entire digital ecosystems, innovative technology companies are increasingly dotting the food retail landscape. This year, at FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Midwinter Executive Conference on Marco Island, Fla., these eight companies were in the spotlight, showcasing platforms and machinery that are changing grocery shopping and food retail as we know it.
Augmodo
Winner of the FMItech 2024 Pitch Competition, Augmodo is a software-as-a-service platform that allows food retailing employees to simply walk the store—something they do multiple times a day anyway—letting their wearable SmartBadges™ do the work, constantly scanning for out-of-stock detection, compliance and product location data.
Earlier this month, Augmodo raised $5.3 million in seed funding in a round led by Lerer Hippeau, with participation from Dunnhumby Ventures, NewFare Partners and Simple Food Ventures.
Badge
Badge took home the honor of being named winner of this year’s FMItech Pitch Competition. The no-code mobile wallet platform allows retailers to reach in-store customers with a personalized app-like experience within the Apple, Google and Samsung Wallets—all without downloading an app or creating an online account.
“Mobile wallets are the next big marketing channel for retailers,” Badge co-founder and CEO Eric Senn said during his pitch to FMI members. “We are a developer platform for mobile wallets. We make it super, super easy for companies to create loyalty cards, interactive gift cards, membership cards, tickets, etc., and then we have a market platform around it that allows you to push offers, send push notifications, set up the geotender, so when a customer walks into your store, they get a push notification right in the wallet.”
Badge, then, replaces plastic loyalty cards with interactive mobile wallet cards that, “not only (drive) incremental transactions, but they also connect to the rest of your digital ecosystem,” Senn said. “They’re collecting new data about how the customer engages, passing that back to your data warehouse, and they’re also driving new app downloads, so all mobile passes can be deep linked to an app. It’s hard to drive more app users, but it’s three times easier to drive someone to the wallet than an app. Your total mobile users (rate) is going to be much higher, and you have the same marketing capability. You can send push notifications to your app, you can send push notifications to people in the wallet, and you’re going to have a much more engaged customer.”
Brain Corp
Many in the grocery industry are familiar with Brain Corp’s aisle-scanning inventory robots but the company is in the process of rolling out an update that will add an arm to the bots, enabling them to select items off shelves for online order fulfillment, freeing up employees for more customer-facing tasks.
“No retail is fully staffed, nor will they ever be,” Brain Corp Chief Revenue Officer Chris Lobdell told SmartBrief. “We believe that solutions like this will free up the opportunity for associates to do what they do best. There are things that humans do very, very well that are difficult to translate into the world of robotics and AI, but there are definitely areas where robotics and AI can support employees and improve efficiency.”
NoxuData
FMItech Pitch finalist NoxuData uses AI-powered analytics to optimize operations and offer advanced data solutions for the food industry. The company’s platform leverages multi-agent architectures and offers users an interactive experience with a CPG data analyst as opposed to a simple chatbot.
“We work with customers through our platform, which offers a single platform for harmonizing users for data sets, and then offering a very easy and conversational interface to query, analyze your data, (provide) error reporting and, finally, build the workflows and actions on top of that event, as well,” NoxuData founder Dae Kim shared at Midwinter. “The way we do this is by applying cutting-edge, multi-user frameworks.”
Simbe Robotics
Brad Bogolea and his Simbe Robotics team have become commonplace for many food retailers—thanks, in large part, to its aisle-scanning, inventory-tracking Tally Robot. Earlier this year, Simbe introduced the Tally Spot, a fixed-sensor data capture solution that complements the original Tally by providing frequent, targeted monitoring in high-turnover and high-risk areas such as produce and alcohol, enhancing in-store visibility and operational efficiency while reducing errors. In October, the company announced the closing of a $50 million Series C equity financing round led by Goldman Sachs.
In addition to rolling out new machinery and technology capabilities, Simbe is working with C-Suite leaders to educate them on the how and the why driving its adoption.
“The world AI is going to have a level of impact that’s probably greater than what happened in the Industrial Revolution,” Bogolea told SmartBrief. “And so every business, every customer experience, every job, is going to be changed in some way. So how do you think about really leveraging this technology, for the most optimal experience? That’s where we’re spending the most significant amount of our time, focusing on education regarding the best practices, the change management, the culture shift, these types of things that come with this adoption.”
TCC Global
TCC Global creates and manages customer loyalty programs in grocery and other retail sectors. The company’s innovative reward structures help brands design interactive loyalty programs that engage customers while boosting digital strategies and, in turn, increasing customer loyalty to a particular store banner.
“Even the most loyal shopper in grocery is probably spending some money somewhere else, especially now. Everybody’s shopping around which means grocery retailers are losing a certain percentage of that share of wallet,” TCC Sales Leader Justin Schneider told SmartBrief. “What we do is provide a powerful incentive to consolidate their weekly spend with one banner, and it’s almost always a physical reward, although we do have an omnichannel solution pillar. Ultimately, we’re not asking the shopper to spend anything more. We’re simply asking them to consolidate their spend.”
VusionGroup
VusionGroup offers a digital shelf-tagging system that uses electronic shelf labels to display real-time product information and pricing. The technology allows retailers to update details instantly through a central system, eliminating the need for manual price tag changes.
“What really makes a big difference in what we’re trying to achieve is to be a single platform, to be able to connect a lot of different devices in the store that are going to be able to help operational tasks, mainly, but also enhance the customer experience inside of the store,” said Adrien Boudier, VusionGroup’s vice president of sales for the Americas in an interview with SmartBrief. “We’ve got this ecosystem that’s around us already to make it easier for retailers to adopt the technology without thinking, how is this gonna work? How is it going to fit with our existing environment?”
Workrz
A flexible job-sharing platform that connects freelancers and businesses, Workrz – the third finalist in the FMItech Pitch Competition this year – combines flexibility with long-term frontline employment, positioning service workers to fill multiple part-time roles that fit their schedules while reducing businesses’ high turnover rates.
“Our model works a lot like a basketball team,” explained Workrz co-founder Orlee Tal—who also co-founded store.ai—presenting her pitch at FMI Midwinter. “So while but only five players actively on the court, the other seven are sitting on the bench waiting to step in at any given moment and make sure that the game is running smoothly. At Workrz, we act as that bench for your businesses. Each worker is trained and certified to work in up to three businesses flexibly, should that fit their schedules.”
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