How are retail robots, in-store AI and shelf intelligence changing the way stores run? In this episode of Retaili$tic, Deborah Weinswig of Coresight Research talks with Caitlin Allen, SVP at SIMBE, about the future of retail technology heading into 2027. Caitlin explains why retailers have stopped asking whether in-store robots work and started asking how fast they can scale. She cites Kroger's plan for more than 2,100 more robots. The two also cover: Why digitizing the shelf comes first and raises the return on every other store investment How computer vision and the Tally robot improve on-shelf availability, price accuracy and planogram compliance Why 60% of "out-of-stock" items are only in the wrong place How guided pick paths speed up online order fulfillment, including BJ's results of about 40% faster e-commerce fulfillment Why retailers need to own their data, and how a single source of truth helps retail media, private label strategy and CPG partners How robots reduce repetitive work, support retail employees and help with turnover Robots as a service versus CapEx, and what drives customer lifetime value If you work in retail operations, grocery, supply chain or e-commerce, this conversation shows where store intelligence is headed next.
Key takeaways
Topics covered
0:25:
Dana previews this week's Coresight Research reports, including the end of de minimis and cross-border e-commerce.
1:32:
Retailers' questions have moved from "do robots work in stores?" to "how fast can they scale?" Caitlin cites Kroger's Investor Day: about 900 robots live and more than 2,100 coming.
3:18:
Computer vision now tells retailers why a shelf problem exists. It ranks fixes by profit and margin, assigns them to a person, and confirms they were done.
5:55:
The shelf is shared infrastructure. The Coresight report found that retailers should digitize the shelf before other store tech, and that robots are 50% more precise than other scanning methods.
7:13:
In 2027 the robot becomes a platform, and the data becomes retail's operating layer. Retailers need to own and govern that data.
8:18:
Planning gets harder as professional shoppers and order volumes shift. Report stats: nearly 90% of retailers struggle with store operations, and sales lost to inefficiency rose 21% year over year.
10:31:
One public club client improved online order efficiency by 40% with guided pick paths.
12:27:
Retail media works better when it reflects what is really on the shelf. Clients find that 60% of items they think are out of stock are only misplaced, and pickers make 50% fewer substitutions.
14:07:
Remote store views let brand partners check pricing, promotions and planograms, and compare private label with national brands.
15:49:
Fresh, center-of-store, non-food and apparel need different scan frequency and tools, including fixed cameras and RFID.
17:36:
Retail jobs and turnover. Robots take over repetitive audits so staff can spend time with shoppers. Caitlin says 90% of store managers prefer their jobs with Tally around, and that retail employment is near record highs.
22:29:
Out-of-stocks and leadership awareness. About 50% of shoppers who can't find an item go elsewhere. One in three retailers has digitized the shelf.
25:11:
BJ's results: e-commerce fulfillment about 40% faster. SIMBE pilots typically pay back in 3–4 months at roughly 3–4x.
27:11:
SIMBE's three layers are retail capture, retail applications and data for CPG brands. The supply chain is still early in this shift.
29:26:
Buyers now see they are buying data to reinvent their operating model, not just a robot. Most deals are robots-as-a-service, with growing interest in CapEx.
30:29:
Customer lifetime value rose 11 percentage points for retailers using store intelligence. Shoppers visit more, stay longer and spend more when Tally is in the store.
34:05:
Tally is the only safety-certified robot in public retail spaces, which Caitlin says should become the industry standard.
35:05:
Looking ahead to 2027, Caitlin cites 96% of shoppers preferring a store with a robot.
Deborah Weinswig (00:00.674)
Hello everyone and well welcome to joining us for another exciting episode of Retaili$tic. We are so excited to be joined by Caitlin Allen from SIMBE, who I think truly from the day I met her, has been a real futurist in our industry. So not just retail, but everything around retail. And so that would be technology, supply chain, real estate, and what happens in the store. So Caitlin, thank you so much for joining us.
Caitlin Allen (00:29.413)
It is such a pleasure to be here, Deb, and you are one of the people I look to for what is on the cutting edge, so excited for the conversation.
Deborah Weinswig (00:37.336)
Thank you. So the timing this is fantastic. So I was just on last Friday with C N B C talking about supply chain and the holiday season. And because it's going to be a very dynamic holiday season with regards to supply chain, can you tell us today what are your customers asking you that they weren't maybe a few months ago? And how is that different from last year?
Caitlin Allen (01:00.431)
Sure. The question in our industry very much used to be, Deb, whether robots worked in stores. And this year we've seen those questions dramatically change, which is how fast they can scale. I, as you imagine, spend most of my time with the retail C suite across store ops, supply chain merchandising, and and often finance and and technology. And I think perhaps what
What underscores the shift that we've seen in questions was something that was shared last week during Kroger's Investor Day. The Chief Store Operations Officer Mark Ibbotson told Wall Street that they have around 900 robots live and more than 2100 coming soon and called it disruptive technology. And you can imagine how proud of a moment it was to see Tally on screen, but maybe more to the point around where retail is
focused today. Kroger did an amazing job laying out a plan to build America's favorite grocer by winning the customer, driving profitable digital growth and and consistent store operations. And so we've really seen that focus echo across the industry.
Deborah Weinswig (02:15.245)
Yeah, and I think you know, Mark has always been really a a seer in our industry. And so the fact that he was talking about where we are with robotics right now says so much. And you know, I I think that the conversation has almost moved from do we need robots in our stores to what else can they do? And so, you know, from very early on, I think
Caitlin Allen (02:38.073)
Mm.
Deborah Weinswig (02:42.165)
SIMBE was giving retailers a really view into the physical store that they hadn't had previously. And so can you talk about from early days to now, not only how is SIMBE changing decision making, but also profitability?
Caitlin Allen (03:00.546)
Yes.
Computer vision Deb as ⁓ used to be able to detect what was wrong on shelves in stores. Now
SIMBE's platform is able to tell retailers why that's the case, what needs to be fixed in priority order according to profitability and margin, who should fix it, and then confirm that that action has actually been done. And that's because AI has gotten dramatically better at things like reasoning and acting. And at the same time, it still needs a live picture of the physical world to act on so that it can converge the digital world with the physical. And as we know, the shelf is shared infrastructure, not just for retailers and their online orders, but also.
They're delivery partners, their brand partners. And so what our platform is able to do is has benefit to, of course, shoppers in terms of elevating the shopping experience, but also store teams and corporate teams. So
By detecting what is on the shelf, then as I mentioned, a prioritized list is able to be sent to a store team so that they can act on it in plain language according to their employer's own standards. And our models are able to recognize quickly enough new products, packaging, and layouts that change, et cetera, so that the accuracy holds as those assortments and store the store environment shifts.
Caitlin Allen (04:25.583)
For corporate teams, SIMBE's platform finds the patterns across retail chains, which stores are consistently executing best, what they do differently, and which trends by region, category supplier, what have you are emerging so that they can turn one store's best practice into a chain's standard. And that's really where AI has unlocked what's feasible recently, which is exception handling. You know, we can sort out a true out of stock or differentiate a true out of stock from a product sitting.
In the back room, for instance. And so it's it's a really exciting time, what can happen at scale with better models.
Deborah Weinswig (05:03.725)
So you I I think you brought up something incredibly important, which is right this shared infrastructure. And I do think oftentimes we think about the digital shelf in a way, but we don't necessarily think about the physical shelf and what that ultimately can do and how we think about not only
retail media, we think about partnerships, we think about brand, we think about, you know, direct store delivery. There's so much when when you really think about what the shelf stands for. And so can you share with us how do you think this idea of the the physical shelf has changed over time? And then what do you see in in twenty seven?
Caitlin Allen (05:44.526)
Yes.
It's interesting how much this question aligns to what we found when we ran our report together earlier this year, Deb, between that Coresight led. So I I think there are a couple things that are coming to mind for for current day and then we can get to 2027.
What we're seeing across the industry is the need to digitize the shelf first before investing in other store technology. And that was one of the core findings of our report. Because the shelf is shared infrastructure, shelf intelligence raises the return on every other store investment. And robots are the best way to do that. Shelf scanning methods have been compared in a lot of different situations, and robots are 50% more precise.
And able to provide more continuous information into what living conditions are at the shelf, which really matters minute by minute, as you know. We also have found that Tally is the best robot. It is the most deployed, the most precise, and the most preferred by stores and sh and shoppers, store teams and shoppers. And it's also the only safety-certified robot for public retail spaces.
And that's what provides the ground truth or the operating layer that retail can run on and that retail's partners can run on so that everyone has a single source of truth into the living condition at the shelf. As we think about what is ahead in 2027, I think we'll all start to understand and and see, Deb, that the robot is actually a platform.
Caitlin Allen (07:17.737)
Which is why the ROI is still in its infancy of this space. The bigger value is very much the data. It becomes the operating layer for retail, whether it's feeding digital fulfillment, feeding automated replenishment or reordering, you know, making sure that the agents that are can you know increasingly orchestrating things are actually functioning correctly. And we see that happening in a couple phases.
That will flow from the store outside, which I can dive into if we want to. But I I think the main point that I'll make and then maybe pause is you can imagine in this world how important it is for retailers to own their data and govern how it feeds into their systems. As we moved this world of running living stores, a continuously updated picture of every shelf.
That retailers and their partners can use to run workforces that involve people, agents, and robots is gonna be it become more and more important. And it's gonna become more and more important that that data is something that retailers have governance over, that they can train their own proprietary models, and that that information isn't locked up in someone else's walled garden that can be monetized or potentially used to disintermediate them.
Deborah Weinswig (08:31.181)
So of course you scratched an itch that I have had for a long time around retailers owning their data. Because I think it was some of the numbers from our report that found that nearly 90% of retailers faced challenges managing store operations, while sales lost to operational inefficiencies increased 21% year over year. And if we unpack that, I think that because
what's happening in the store is changing at such a pace with more and more professional shoppers. So number one, wait, what's happening in your stores, I I was in a fairway the other day. I was the only ⁓ hey, I spend a lot of time in retail. I'm definitely not a professional shopper, shopping for others, maybe, maybe shopping for our household. But it really changed how I thought about kind of SIMBE. I I will say it was one of those
Aha moments, and I was in a a fairway. And as you think about, because right, people are carrying these huge wagons. I mean, this is how I knew this is how I knew they're professional shoppers, right? They're carrying these massive wagons. And you can see they had several orders that they're they're picking for. And because all the all the volume was happening at the same time, it was like 8 p.m. at night, and I mean, literally every single aisle was had at least one of these wagons in it.
Caitlin Allen (09:52.485)
Mm-hmm.
Deborah Weinswig (09:53.238)
So as we think about volume happening at times that didn't that i isn't where retailers saw it previously. So they're leaning into last year's data. That was definitely not what was happening a year ago. So if we think about how planning is done, oftentimes, of course, right, especially with with Gen AI and agentic and all that, we're seeing changes in how planning gets done. But in many cases still, we're looking at what happened last year to plan this year and, the year ahead. Maybe we look at a two year stack versus just one year.
So if things are changing that rapidly and retailers don't have their data, I can't imagine what this number might be, but maybe that's why it's as high as twenty-one. And even if they do have their data, if if you have this, I would say, objective kind of like robot as operating infrastructure, that completely changes than if you have, right, like 100% turnover in you know store personnel. So if you can help us unpack that, so number one.
Increase in professional shoppers, number two, changes in year over year. And three, like single source of truth. How how do we think about all that? Because if if I think we can get to the bottom of that, I think we can help retailers who are listening to this think completely differently about planning for twenty seven.
Caitlin Allen (11:06.755)
Yes. It gets back to the data point, I believe, Deb. So one of our clients, Schnooks, is using Tally's data to inform basically to give their their teams, their pickers, guided pick paths so that they can walk through the store in an optimized fashion. we have a public club.
Deborah Weinswig (11:24.205)
Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Allen (11:32.07)
Client that does the same thing, they've improved online order efficiency by 40%. So I think it's about knowing where to use the information. That information can also be used to provide guided pick paths, so to speak, to shoppers if they have their shopping lists in the items in their in the retailers' apps. It can be used for pick-to-light functionality.
Deborah Weinswig (11:37.463)
Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Allen (11:55.734)
it can also do things like automate replenishment as I mentioned before. So I think in this era of you know, more cooks in the kitchen, more cooks in the store, so to speak, orchestration becomes more important, which means the single source of truth becomes more important. and
that it get back gets back to the point around the need for control over your own data and how it feeds into your systems and also your partner systems because if your partners aren't operating with the same source of truth you know that makes things very much more difficult whereas if they are then everyone can operate in concert.
Deborah Weinswig (12:37.293)
So it if we think about so if we if we just catapult to twenty seven, some of what we've seen from a lot of the brands, as they think about partnerships, a lot of it these days is relating more and more to marketing and marketing spend because it's very difficult to measure the ROI. And so if you're you know, if we think about it from a SIMBE perspective, if you're able to see the shelf and
⁓ see ultimately the, ⁓ on shelf availability, where are we versus where we expected to be? And, ⁓ as we're seeing more and more done by individual location, how do you think SIMBE can play more into that ecosystem around marketing spend, individual, we'll call it personalization, customization by store, by shopper? What what do you see as the longer term opportunity?
Caitlin Allen (13:34.47)
Three things come to mind. So the first, the first is retail media. I and I'll tell a quick story. I was driving the other day by a grocery store I don't often go to. I was using Waze. An ad popped up for my husband's favorite granola that I can only buy at that particular brand and told me that it was there. So I went off the freeway to a store I don't usually go to and walked into the store, and they were out of the item. So they paid to get me to their store.
When they didn't have the item. Which, you know, is an understandable mistake if you don't know the precise location of the items in your store. And on average, our clients find that 60% of the items they believe are out of stock are actually just in the wrong place. So, roundabout way of saying, I think there's a great application for retail media to close the loop and drive accuracy.
From a delivery partner perspective, we have also seen that pickers using our data have 50% less substitutions so that they can deliver more items more accurately for the the online orders that are placed. and I thought I forgot my third point, so we're just gonna stick with two.
Deborah Weinswig (14:55.853)
So going back to almost being this single source of truth orchestration layer, and as we think about marketing spend and marketing platforms, really needing to understand that as well because the the brands need that. And then how does that kind of like visa vis private label or exclusive label, how do we think about brands versus own label?
Caitlin Allen (15:26.125)
It's a great question. I think so with the data, and this actually gets to the third thing I forgot, so thank you. there is the ability I'll teed me up there. There is the ability with the cert the right kind of computer vision that you are actually able to see into your store remotely, much like a Google Street view would allow you to see like a home or a street.
Deborah Weinswig (15:33.388)
I try.
Caitlin Allen (15:48.548)
With a fisheye camera. So that's the capability that brand partners or CPG partners are able to use with a a platform like ours to verify that things like pricing and promotion and planogram compliance is in place and also like physically look at the store. You can imagine too, store managers, district managers do the same thing. So as it relates to
you know, your your own l your own labels or CPG, you can start to compare with a platform like ours the performance of what's truly driving sales and margin across those two different subsets and then know how to dial up and dial down, be it price, be it placement on a shelf, be it you know end cap or down an aisle, high, low, you're able to start to get into that kind of information at a really granular level.
with again the source of truth that is shared. So you're not on the opposite side of the table arguing for with your partners. You're both looking at the same information and making decisions together about how to advance sales for both different segments. and you know, to the implicit point, they're gonna be different in the strategies that are needed.
Deborah Weinswig (16:55.639)
So you work with Kroger's a great example where, ⁓ especially they've they've I think done a tremendous job in non-food. So if you and you may look at it broader than this, but if I think about food, which is kind of call it shelf stable, center of store, versus perimeter, which is perishable. And then you think about non-food, and you I am sure there are many different, you know, kind of ways to to think about that, but
As we think about this operating infrastructure kind of future of computer vision, how does that change by category of what's sold in the store?
Caitlin Allen (17:37.273)
What are the differences in by category of what's sold in the store?
Deborah Weinswig (17:41.07)
So let's say if it if fresh, right? Where we're, you know, you've got apples and lettuce and bananas, right? All which have different kind of shelf life. And the information that's being given back to the retailer, given back to the farms, how how far does that data go back? And so then if we compare it to like center of store where you have, you know, kind of shelf stable product versus where you have non food where you have much lower turnover and and theoretically kind of bigger footprint.
Caitlin Allen (17:51.065)
Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Allen (18:11.129)
Mm.
Deborah Weinswig (18:11.144)
Caitlin Allen (18:12.141)
So you need you need different different frequency of information for those two areas of the store. One in a like fresh and high turnover areas like rotisserie chicken, you know, in in non-food environments that might be jewelry or more expensive accessories. There are different kinds of modalities that help capture that information. As I mentioned before, robotics, robots are the platform. Robots are the most precise, reliable way to capture information of the store. That being said, there are other modalities.
That can be built on top of it to provide full coverage with the frequency and fidelity and accuracy that we need. So that's where things like fixed sensing, provided there's a robotics foundation, can come into play to provide more frequent, more continuous information for high-change areas. And then for categories of the store that might include apparel, for instance, our Tally RFID capabilities are able to help support from that aspect in.
in parts of the store where computer vision maybe doesn't work. You asked a question about how far back it goes. That's up to retailer discretion. SIMBE of course keeps records for for quite some time that retail organizations own. And then that information is continuously available. So it's able to be mined for data and for insights at any kind of timeframe that is desired.
Deborah Weinswig (19:33.278)
And as we think about, unfortunately it's something that is very near and dear to my heart around kind of employee turnover, manager turnover, which not only I mean, I think I think as a society we l should look at retail as being I mean, it's an incredibly difficult profession, but looking at it more as a profession
Number two, trying to figure out how to migrate, you know, kind of hourly associates ultimately to store managers, regional managers, et cetera. And then three, how do we share information if we've had turnover store manager, district manager, regional manager throughout the organization so that people can make better decisions?
Caitlin Allen (20:14.839)
It's a great question. And I to your point, retail's the largest modern employer, I believe, and it's the cornerstone of our local communities. it's such an important part of of who we are as in a world and a nation and the you know, states and and cities.
And what I love hearing from our clients is that robots elevate retail work and retail wages. Bob Eddy, the CEO of BJs and the chairman of NRF, said that recently on a an NRF webinar that that robots have raised elevated retail wages at their organization. I think what so I
What the data tells us is that, you know, with high attrition rates in retail, the top reason that retail workers quit, according to the Bureau of Labor, are highly monotonous repetitive tasks. And walking up and down the aisle for manual audits fall very squarely into that camp. And so to be able to take
Repetitive manual work off of store teams' plates so that they can spend more time not searching for issues, but actually addressing them, and also spending time interacting with shoppers. Those are the things that, according to data, that they prefer to spend their time on. And you know, it's part of the reason why I believe 90% of store managers prefer their jobs with Tally around. You know, I was in a store recently with a store manager, and we were talking.
And she a shopper walked by, she said, excuse me, one moment, talked to the woman, asked her how her daughter's soccer game went the prior weekend. You know, they chucked for a minute, and then she turned back and and looked at me and said, That's what Tally lets me do. It's that personal connection, right? Like I could I can still remember the grocery store I went to growing up, Molly Stones, and the things that we saw in the store, the way that they gave me the things to try, little like cookies and crackers, and you know, how great of a place it was to be.
Caitlin Allen (22:17.443)
And so I think it's it's possible and it is the future where technology actually frees the workforce, the retail workforce up to enjoy and stay in their their professions longer and and likely become more and more respected and better, better paid, which is really exciting.
Deborah Weinswig (22:36.181)
Yeah, it's i it's a really interesting point. So I think there's been a fear from some around the the headlines or the media or how to handle it from a PR perspective. And going back to some of the data in our report where we said, you know, more than half, I think it was sixty percent of surveyed retailers said that they are either scaling store intelligence technologies or have them fully scaled. Although I think, you know, as things keep evolving, you're fully scaled today and starting at the beginning tomorrow. And that was an eighteen percentage point. So like
1800 basis point change versus 2025. And so if we think about this kind of pace of change and how store employees are becoming not only smarter about what's on hand and where it is, but also even smarter about kind of different customers, different customer types, personas, and how they want to be engaged with. And then ultimately, I mean, hey, people work in retail.
Caitlin Allen (23:31.556)
Mm-hmm.
Deborah Weinswig (23:32.322)
Well, they love product and they often, you know, kind of love helping customers. So this ability to spend more time with a customer, ultimately that should lead to lower turnover. I don't know if you can help us either qualitatively or quantitatively think about that. And are you seeing any change in terms of fear of whatever it might be as a result of technology? Are you starting to see that change in direction?
Caitlin Allen (24:01.765)
Couple things are coming to mind. I was looking at data this morning actually about US retail employment trends. And y technology, new technology hasn't replaced retail workers. In fact, retail employment in the US is near record highs by by factors of of X. and so I and I think that is there's a direct correlation there.
Deborah Weinswig (24:09.399)
Mm.
Caitlin Allen (24:24.835)
Technology transforms retail roles and instead of eliminating jobs, it it reshapes them, which to your your other the other part of your question, Deb, we do see that labor retention goes up dramatically.
after Tally goes into stores because those monotonous repetitive tasks no longer need to be done. Because higher level work gets to be done. And we already know how much is on retail workers' plate. So it really it's it's allowing focus in a way that's the best that's best aligned with what's good for stakeholders and what's good for shoppers, which at the same time is really what's good for the retail worker.
Deborah Weinswig (25:07.473)
And I think that, you know, retail associates would rather not be spending time on, okay, it's out of stock, do you have it the back? There's two and I want three. Those those kinds of things. And so if we think about the challenge, and I'm certainly not one to pick on any retailer, but I did put on LinkedIn, so I feel like I'm not saying anything out of school. But, you know, I was in a Target recently, and I mean
I have to and and everyone's like, you're in a city Target. Well, I was not in a city Target, I was in a suburban Target, which is why I think my jaw dropped and hit the floor, in terms of their level of out-of-stocks, the challenge around the cleanliness or the housekeeping in the store, and then also just kind of how many items were in the wrong place. So going back to if it's not on the shelf, you can't sell it.
Caitlin Allen (25:58.041)
Mm-hmm.
Deborah Weinswig (26:00.16)
And so we don't need to pick on poor Target, but ⁓ I'm I'm sure enough people are, although I think there's there's this feeling that they're ⁓ turning the corner. ⁓ with 21% of surveyed respondents from our study saying that out-of-stocks are an extremely kind of important area to focus on, are are you seeing that there's like self-awareness there? And I think target's a great example because right when you listen to earnings call,
What you see in the store doesn't necessarily translate through in terms of opportunity. So I actually think from a shareholders' perspective, you're like, there's a huge amount of opportunity here. But do you think that leadership is aware of that? Or is that more of a kind of store personnel understanding? And if there is a gap, is it by brand, by retailer? And how do we kind of help, you know, leadership understand, right? Like having items on shelf can ultimately drive a significant top line growth and high ROI for you.
Caitlin Allen (26:59.681)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a great question. we are seeing a dramatic shift in understanding how much on-shelf availability drives margin. you know, it's it's a core part of winning the customer. And I do think those on the front lines see it more you know earlier on. And that's why data tells us that ever in a situation where a shopper does not find the item that they want, 50% go elsewhere and don't come back.
On shelf availability drives it drives sales, price accuracy protects margin.
It's kinda it kinda goes back to the basics, right? Like it it th the building blocks of like is the thing you want there, is it priced it correctly? And and can you rely on the fact that when you order it online, it's also gonna be delivered to you if if the online inventory says that it's available. So, you know, it there's still
There's still competitive white space. Our I believe our report found that one in three retailers have invested in shelf digitization. You know, the report was collected earlier in twenty twenty six, so I'm sure it's accelerated since then. I know our store base has has tripled this year and and so you know that represents the the trend uptick in the market, but it's not mainstream yet, which is why it's important to act now.
Deborah Weinswig (28:19.147)
And and I think, ⁓ BJ's was certainly for us who we know very well, very early in this journey. And I think, you know, going back to you referred to Bob Eddie earlier, but he had talked about on a recent earnings call around when they originally deployed SIMBE right? They really thought about kind of inventory and price accuracy. And now they're into kind of digital twin providing real-time visibility. How how do you see those who have been very early with SIMBE how are they
kind of changing what they do and how they do it and what's the return look like.
Caitlin Allen (28:53.379)
Yes. BJ's has such a powerful story. I believe Bob also shared on a
a recent earnings call Deb that their e-commerce fulfillment got 40% faster with Tally around because of the guided pick paths. To your point, it is important at the beginning of an engagement with our clients for us to focus on a use case. And our, you know, ROI is generally delivered in our pilots between three to four months, and it's usually about three to four X in that time period. And that's typically focused on price accuracy or on-shelf availability.
But the use cases proliferate from there across automating reordering, improving online inventory accuracy, accelerating online order fulfillment in the store, etc. So it it's it kind of goes back to the
retail operating model, I think we're developing a new one with this level of data. And the the use cases span some of the things we've already spoken about as well. Retail media, merchandising, you know, how do you how do you package and price most effectively? so the the it get the shelf is shared infrastructure as we've already said and
use cases built on top of that reflect the fact that at the end of the day, what is on the shelf kind of drives what can be sold and and cascades across across the store and their partners.
Deborah Weinswig (30:22.515)
So on top of that, at CES this year, one of the main stage presentations by the CEO of Lenovo, and he had the CEOs of four largest ship companies, talked about really supply chain transformation. And as we look to 27,
Where do you think we are along that journey and where does SIMBE come into play and how has that evolved over time with regards to SIMBE's opportunity with regards to digitization and digitalization around supply chain?
Caitlin Allen (30:55.223)
Yes. We're still at the early stages in some ways. I I think where where we're headed is where the store will be living. The store may be a robot itself in a way. and that will influence a self-optimizing supply chain. Now, you know, what are the steps to get there? It's it's gonna take some time. and typically the way that we think about what's coming,
is divided into a couple of concentric circles that flow out from the store and increasingly influence the supply chain. So SIMBE is today is building the operating and the orchestration layer and offers three different
kind of things that that support this. The first is retail capture, which is what we do with our robot Tally, with Tally Spot, the fixed camera, with TallyRFID. The second is retail applications for specific tour for specific teams, store operations, merchants, supply chain. And then the third is is data monetization for CPG and for brands. You know what that allows supply chain or merchandising to do
Is to apply their own brand standards into their store for the first time ever, and to automate a lot of recurring processes that make sure that product gets where it needs to be. As we look forward, this gets much more into an era of a data and an AI platform, so to speak, and autonomous applications ultimately, where you know operating agents are governed by a retail's retail-owned LLM.
their proprietary information. and you know, could eventually look
Caitlin Allen (32:38.199)
like something where, you know, maybe shoppers can interact with things in the store to ask where items are. You know, maybe there's a lot of intelligence at a store's exit. There's a lot that's coming that will allow the supply chain to be more informed. But the the underpinning principle that must be true in that future world is that there is a source of ground truth that is able to to inform all of the systems across the organization and the supply chain.
Deborah Weinswig (33:05.865)
And a a follow up, as you're speaking to existing customers, how's the conversation changed? And then as you're speaking to prospective customers, how's the conversation changing?
Caitlin Allen (33:21.007)
They know they're not just buying a robot. They know they're buying data to reinvent the r their retail operating model.
Deborah Weinswig (33:28.257)
That's a big change. And then as you think about it, because investors are increasingly measuring AI through CapEx, not OpEx, are you also seeing a change in terms of how companies want to work with SIMBE versus like robots as a service versus purchasing the hardware?
Caitlin Allen (33:48.688)
There's variance across tier size of an organization. predominantly we have sold robots as a service up until this this point because we are experts at maintaining a robot fleet. And and when you buy robots as a service, then that maintenance and that repair, that you know, replacing units when needed, that's part of the price, so to speak. there there are
There are increasingly retailers that are interested in CapEx models for, you know, various reasons that support their strategy. so we're s we're starting to see some shifts and it'll be an interesting it'll it'll be interesting to see what what continues, but just a lot of variants, probably no trends to share so much yet.
Deborah Weinswig (34:33.82)
No, it's it's really interesting. And then the this idea, which I feel like we've heard a little bit less of in 26 for whatever reason, but something I know you and I both share a lot of passion on, which is customer lifetime value. And right, our report has found that retailers adopting store intelligence technologies reporting eleven percent rate. That's eleven hundred basis points increase and customer lifetime value, which is
significant when we think about loyalty, kind of not only average order value, but you know, kind of repeat customer visits. So what do you attribute that to? And once again, as we're seeing kind of these ecosystems develop, how does loyalty and personalization and customization and ultimately everything that are some of the intangibles that matter to customers, how does that continue to ebb and flow?
Caitlin Allen (35:23.481)
Clients find that their shoppers come more often and stay in the store longer and spend more once Tally is in the store. And I think the reason for that is very simple. Deb, as you know, Tally, the hardware of Tally was designed to answer the question of how can you make a robot as cute as a penguin? And what we
Deborah Weinswig (35:45.522)
Right.
Caitlin Allen (35:48.346)
You know, and so children love seeing the robot. We find that families like parents don't they stop shopping when their kids are at school, once Tally goes into their local store. And they come to the store at night and on weekends because their kids want to see, to see them. I know one grandma in the Midwest who takes her grandkids in a couple of times a week to get a cookie or a donut and visit the robot. So it's become part of family lore. So I think it it's it's really about the I don't know if a relationship is the right
Way to say it because this is an inanimate object, but we humans react to the physical form factor.
Deborah Weinswig (36:23.81)
Well, well, yeah, yes, yeah, yes, it is. But when when we're all speaking to our AI agents and you know, there there's somewhat a blurring of the li I just have to I think there's like a blurring of the lines right now. So, you know, some some people may f may feel like a real affinity, and and the thing is if you know Tally's gonna be there every time, right? You don't know if your favorite store associate or store manager's gonna be there, but Tally's gonna be there.
Caitlin Allen (36:52.442)
Mm-hmm.
Deborah Weinswig (36:52.812)
There's kind of somet right, it's it's a little hard to kind of wrap our arms around exactly what box do you want to put that in, but there's something to be said about that.
Caitlin Allen (37:00.611)
It's it's like the question, how do you put a a value or a dollar figure on brand? what I can say is like for instance, our swag store this year has just items have flown off the shelves. We just started selling a Tally Halloween costume. We have sold hundreds. ⁓ there's an I d it is. And we've actually just introduced one for adults because they want them too. So it's there's this affinity.
Deborah Weinswig (37:15.51)
That's kind of crazy.
Deborah Weinswig (37:26.508)
Well, I I will say at our dinner there there were ⁓ we we we navigated things carefully, but people are like, I want the Tally like Legos. I want the Tally Legos. it was ⁓ these are things that there there is a an affinity and it's also goes back to it's something I think we can all relate to it, right? So I think many ⁓ I go to a lot of hardware shows, so I've spent a lot of time with humanoids, but most people haven't.
And and there's also right there's there's something to be said about kind of let's just say a different relationship. Whereas if Tally's helping me find my product eventually, making sure it's there, and and potentially I feel safer with Tally in the store, right? Data values that I think that there's there's something to be said. And so I I think that you know, if we go back several years to where
I mean, we were just trying to explain to customers and to, you know, customers in the store and then retailers and leadership what this represented. I feel like all those conversations are down to kind of like seconds, not like minutes, hours, days, weeks, years. And I don't know what you're seeing on your side.
Caitlin Allen (38:35.905)
Mm-hmm. No, it's it's really interesting of a point. you know, Tally is the only safety certified robot as well, which is which is going to become, I think, increasingly important because of the the questions that are natural that get asked when you see something with cameras rolling around your store. Is it filming me? Is it following me? The answer is no, but it's a natural question, right? And so we while we are currently the only
robot in a public retail space to have that certification, I think I think that needs to be industry standard. It it needs to be something that becomes the status quo.
Deborah Weinswig (39:11.17)
Yeah, and I think I actually think that's part of the change that you and I are seeing is this idea of for consumers, what what is the what is expected when they go to the store? And I think these days a lot of what Tally represents is what's expected. All right, so I'm gonna throw out last question. If we're sitting here on the same date, which I guess will be a day forward, in twenty twenty seven, what do you think we'll be talking about?
Caitlin Allen (39:42.447)
Such a good question. we will have more publicly shareable stories to the the point that you just made about the fact that stores sell more and provide better customer service when robots are around. And I think similar to how th we've seen with smartphones and laptops, which when they when they were first introduced, there were a lot of
Deborah Weinswig (39:49.186)
Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Allen (40:08.289)
reactions around, you know, what what change would this invoke for for our lives and now we can't operate without them, or at least I s can speak for myself. I certainly cannot.
We're gonna have a similar attitude about not being able to feel like we want to go shopping without robots. We know that 96% of shoppers prefer a robot being in the store because they associate it with a better experience on a variety of different vectors. So I think that's what we'll be talking about: how amazing it's been to see expectations and bottom-up demand start to build.
Deborah Weinswig (40:40.64)
Yeah, no, I think it's an excellent point. Caitlin, I could talk to you for hours because this is such a fascinating topic and how quickly it has evolved, I think is is beyond words. Congratulations to everything that you've achieved and I think everything that you will and look forward to seeing you here next year because I think we've got we're gonna have a lot more to talk about. Thanks so much and talk to you soon.
Caitlin Allen (41:02.864)
Thank you so much, Deb