SmartBadge Now Boosts Grocery E-Comm Profitability
Mercatus and Augmodo have revealed a collaboration that integrates Augmodo’s innovative SmartBadge wearable cameras with Mercatus’s digital commerce platform, giving grocery retailers a way to capture real-time shelf data. The companies are combining their respective technologies to address key operational challenges in grocery e-commerce.
“With Augmodo’s SmartBadge technology, we’re equipping grocers with a powerful tool to address out-of-stocks, streamline fulfillment and optimize labor — all while enhancing the customer experience,” noted Lan Nguyen, CEO of Houston-based Mercatus. “This collaboration sets a new standard for efficiency in grocery retail, delivering measurable value for retailers and a reliable experience for their customers.”
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The SmartBadge is a wearable camera that passively captures real-time shelf data as associates move through the store. The data provides such actionable recommendations to improve operations as optimized store routing to minimize time spent finding products, secondary item placements to boost availability, and substitution suggestions to increase first-time pick rates and decrease fulfillment time.
“With inventory challenges costing grocers billions each year, Augmodo’s SmartBadge technology represents a groundbreaking solution for operational efficiency,” said Ross Finman, founder and CEO of Seattle-based Augmodo. “The rich data captured effectively equips new associates with the equivalent of two years of experience, enhancing productivity with an AI assistant that reduces monotonous and repetitive tasks.”
The Augmodo SmartBadge system can be installed in just 20 minutes and quickly charged, according to the company, which added that the system costs 100 times less than other options while capturing 10 times more shelf data. Augmodo noted that the system’s key benefits for grocers include lower labor costs through optimized workflows; higher e-commerce order accuracy, minimizing substitutions and improving customer satisfaction, and real-time visibility for executives and brand partners through a robust analytics platform for proactive inventory management.
