Major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co., part of Seven & i Holdings Co., has introduced an AI-powered stocking system at all of its about 130 stores to reduce the burden on its clerks to order items.
The system analyzes data such as product prices, the number of items on display, weather conditions such as temperature and precipitation, and the number of customers per day of the week to suggest the proper amount of items to stock.
While aiming to reduce the number of items out of stock during business hours with its precision, the system is also expected to shorten the time needed to order about 8,000 items, including instant noodles, confectionery, frozen foods and milk.
Before introducing this system, clerks took an average of 40 minutes a day to order 400 items. In the AI demonstration ahead of the system's launch, the time was shortened by about 30% and the stockout rate was reduced by about 20%.
The time saved is expected to be spent on other activities, including product display and customer service, while also helping to alleviate the labor shortage.
Developing such an AI system for supermarkets is said to be difficult because they handle a wider variety of products than convenience stores and their prices change frequently due to sales.
Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the convenience store chain of Seven & i, is conducting large-scale tests of the system and plans to introduce it to about 21,000 stores nationwide.
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