Inventory Intelligence Company Hires Former Kroger Exec
Retail shelf intelligence company Pensa Systems has appointed retail industry executive Mark Abernathy its head of market development for the retail sector. Abernathy will lead Pensa’s efforts to meet retailers’ growing demand for automated real-world shelf visibility data.
“Profitability has never been more challenging for retailers; the added expense of e-commerce fulfillment coupled with the rising cost of transportation and wages is a significant headwind,” said Abernathy. “I’m excited to join Pensa, where I can marry my decades of experience improving operations in real-world retail environments with Pensa’s powerful, automated shelf intelligence solution that helps retailers improve sales, reduce labor and monetize their data.”
Abernathy was head of e-commerce operations at The Kroger Co. for approximately five years. During his time with the company, he created and led a profitable $6 billion business across more than 2,000 locations in 19 regional divisions and expanded operations to support new lines of business, including home delivery, ship to home, and click-and-collect. Earlier in his career, Abernathy spent 13 years at Kroger wholly owned subsidiary Harris Teeter in a variety of store operations roles.
“Pensa’s system is uniquely effective at detecting stockouts and bringing the shelf online in the new omnichannel world, and that’s driving up interest and demand for our syndicated shelf data,” said Richard Schwartz, president and CEO of Austin, Texas-based Pensa. “Mark intimately understands how to help retailers drive growth while simultaneously navigating market disruptions. We are thrilled to have him aboard as head of retail.”
[To view the "Know Your Shelf: Getting Store Execution Right in 2022" on-demand webinar, click here.]
Pensa’s footprint has recently expanded across multiple retail formats and regions, including leading grocery, drug store and convenience channels. Its automated shelf intelligence, powered by artificial intelligence and video-based computer vision, closes the gap between retail inventory and point-of-sale data, helping retailers minimize stockouts and create new data sources to monetize and improve the customer experience to drive revenue and loyalty in the omnichannel world.
Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
