Development of an AI-Powered Shelf Monitoring Mobile Application for Retail Merchandisers

The client faces difficulties in real-time tracking of FMCG products on retail shelves, including identifying and monitoring product placement, SKU availability, price tags, and promotional materials. These challenges hinder quick decision-making, result in suboptimal product placement, and impact sales performance. The client requires a mobile solution capable of accurately capturing shelf data and providing immediate insights for supervisors and merchandisers to improve operational efficiency and competitiveness.

A large retail chain seeking to enhance shelf management, product visibility, and pricing accuracy through mobile and AI technologies.

• Implement a mobile application enabling merchandisers to efficiently capture and upload shelf data, including product identification, assortment, pricing, and promotional tags.
• Achieve high accuracy in product detection, SKU counting, and OCR-based price and promotion recognition using AI models.
• Enable real-time KPI calculations, data synchronization, and actionable insights for supervisors.
• Reduce manual errors and increase shelf compliance through automated monitoring.
• Streamline deployment and maintenance using scalable ML deployment practices to ensure consistent and reliable AI performance.
• Enhance decision-making processes, leading to improved shelf availability, competitive positioning, and promotional effectiveness.

• Object detection and classification to identify and track FMCG products on retail shelves.
• SKU counting and assortment monitoring to ensure optimal product placement and stock levels.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for extracting price tags and promotional labels from images.
• Real-time data synchronization with backend systems for immediate access and reporting.
• User-friendly interfaces tailored for merchandisers and supervisors to perform shelf audits and review insights.
• Automated KPI calculation and visualization for quick decision-making.
• Integration with existing inventory and sales systems for comprehensive insights.

• Inventory management systems for SKU and stock data
• Point of Sale and promotional campaign systems for promotional data
• Backend services for data storage, KPI calculation, and analytics

• High accuracy in object detection and OCR, targeting above 95% precision
• Real-time data processing with minimal latency to support instant decision-making
• Application uptime of 99.9% with scalable infrastructure to handle large volume of images
• Data security compliance and secure user authentication for field staff

The proposed shelf monitoring system aims to significantly improve shelf compliance and product visibility, reducing manual errors and audit time. By achieving high detection accuracy, the client can ensure better product placement and pricing compliance, leading to increased sales and competitive advantage. Expected outcomes include faster decision cycles, optimized shelf space, and enhanced promotional effectiveness, ultimately contributing to improved revenue and operational efficiency.