McCoy’s Building Supply brings in Badger robots to help operate stores

Badger Technologies, a product division of Jabil and specialist in retail automation, is rolling out in-store robots at McCoy’s Building Supply to elevate operational efficiencies and bolster customer-service excellence following a successful robotics pilot.

As a result, Badger Technologies multipurpose, autonomous robots empower McCoy’s stores to detect out-of-stock (OOS) and incorrectly priced products with more than 95 per cent accuracy while helping to decrease OOS products by up to 50 per cent. McCoy’s also improved price-tag accuracy by more than 97 per cent.

Based in San Marcos, Texas, McCoy’s Building Supply is one of the nation’s largest, privately held building supply retailers with 85 stores throughout Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

The hardware retailer’s decision to deploy Badger Technologies multipurpose autonomous robots was driven by the company’s overarching commitment to deliver the highest levels of service on behalf of its loyal customers and hard-working team members.

Waylon Walker, senior vice president, operations and merchandising for McCoy’s Building Supply, says: “We continually seek innovative ways to elevate customer service while removing operational obstacles for store associates.

“With Badger Technologies robots, we can eliminate manual, time-consuming inventory checks and attain real-time data to better address customer preferences and buying trends.”

With McCoy’s storewide robotics rollout under way, local store operations and merchandising teams benefit from the value of automation, including daily updates on product availability and pricing for up to 50,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) per location.

Additionally, the robots complete inventory shelf scans in just two hours each day, freeing associates from laborious shelf inspections, which previously took up to 50 hours per week.

This represents a 72 per cent reduction in time required each week to conduct product and price checks.

Autonomous robots can alleviate many of the toughest operational problems facing retailers today. Not only do the robots offload tedious tasks from store associates, they also ease the burden of addressing persistent labor shortages.

Additionally, in-store robots improve on-shelf product availability by generating actionable data and analytics to provide a more accurate view of shelf conditions.

William Santiago, CEO of Badger Technologies, says: “Our multipurpose autonomous robots offer retailers much-needed relief by extending staff operations and providing critical data to increase efficiencies and improve shopping experiences.

“The robots deployed by McCoy’s are making a major impact in increasing customer satisfaction, improving storewide operations, and boosting retail revenues.”

The collection and correlation of sell-through and pricing-trend data, along with OOS duration and frequency, enables McCoy’s to prioritize product replenishment.

Additionally, Badger Technologies multipurpose, autonomous robots keep track of product locations, which can speed re-stocking the most popular products while assisting stores with merchandise forecasting, commodity management, and planogram compliance.