Simbe, a provider of robots for retail inventory management, has announced the deployment of Tally, its autonomous shelf-scanning robot, across Harmons, Utah’s independent, locally owned and operated neighborhood grocer, to optimize inventory management and deliver a consistently exceptional customer experience.
Following a successful five-store rollout, Tally is now live across 17 of Harmons locations, bringing real-time shelf intelligence and automation in store.
Store associates typically spend up to 30 hours per week manually verifying and scanning out of stock inventory, a time-intensive and error-prone task.
Tally captures real-time, shelf-level data on product availability, pricing and placement, enabling Harmons to achieve cleaner data, better execution and minimize out of stock inventory.
Ultimately, this frees up Harmons’ store associates to focus on what matters most: serving customers and creating a better in-store experience.
Harmons distinguishes itself on quality, customer service, and its knowledgeable, caring associates. With the shopper experience central to Harmons’ mission, ensuring shelves are stocked with the right items, in the right place, at the right price is critical for success.
Simbe’s Tally autonomously traverses aisles and scans shelves multiple times daily to automate and guarantee the completion of repetitive and time-intensive tasks.
Bruce Hatch, chief information officer at Harmons, says: “It’s not uncommon for associates to have been part of the Harmons’ grocer family for 20, 30, even 40 years, and we wanted to ensure we were introducing tech to fit their world.
“Our goal for Tally was to empower and support our associates while also improving our operations and the customer experience. Simbe proved to be the perfect partner.
“Tally provides reliable, actionable data that helps our teams execute better, reduce missed sales opportunities, protect margin, and allow us to focus on what matters the most, our customers. It’s an essential part of how we continue evolving our business while staying true to our values.”
Following a successful pilot, Harmons quickly deployed Tally across 17 locations. The decision was based on Tally’s performance and design, such as its ability to safely navigate around customers and pause in busy aisles. Key pilot outcomes include:
- 20 percent reduction in out-of-stocks across high-margin, high-velocity items, increasing sales, improving customer satisfaction, and enabling smarter inventory decisions
- Increased pricing accuracy with automated daily scans replacing manual checks
- Comprehensive shelf intelligence, strengthening planogram execution and revealing real shrinkage for faster resolution and margin protection
Cari McGinnis, senior director of client success at Simbe, says: “Harmons demonstrates how integrating real-time shelf visibility into daily operations elevates retail execution.
“Beyond inventory, Tally’s shelf data fuels smarter automation, boosting performance and creating an agile, data-driven operating model centered on shoppers and store teams.”
Harmons joins Simbe’s growing base of US and international retailers in ten countries across grocery, club, alcohol, home improvement and farm supply, including new clients like HomeBase USA, DeCicco & Sons, and Prime Markets, all leveraging automation to modernize store operations and boost shopper satisfaction.
With Tally now chainwide, Harmons is positioned to “further lead in service and execution within the competitive grocery landscape”, say the companies.
