ReThink Productivity Podcast
In this exciting podcast, Simon Hedaux from ReThink Productivity shares his insights and strategies for improving productivity and efficiency in the retail and hospitality industries. With the help of clients, partners, and the ReThink team, Simon covers everything from measuring and tracking productivity to developing and implementing effective strategies.
Whether you're a business owner, manager, or employee, this podcast is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn how to get more done and improve their bottom line.
Here's what you can expect to learn:
- How to measure and track productivity
- Proven strategies for improving efficiency and reducing waste
- How to create a culture of productivity and innovation
- Tips for motivating and engaging your team
- Real-world examples of how other businesses have used ReThink Productivity to achieve success
Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from the experts and get ahead of the curve with your own business.
ReThink Productivity Podcast
Harnessing AI and Computer Vision for Enhanced Efficiency with Simon Shankster
Discover the future of retail with Simon Shankster, Director of Sales for EMEA at Focal Systems. With a keen focus on computer vision and AI, Simon shares his passion for enhancing efficiency through cutting-edge tools such as battery-powered on-shelf cameras. Hear how these advancements are not only bridging stock gaps but also revolutionising inventory management, all while upholding privacy standards. Simon provides an insider's look into how Focal Systems is reshaping the retail landscape by addressing key challenges such as loss prevention and staffing, paving the way for a more efficient and productive retail environment
In a world where effective stock management is crucial, our conversation dives into the competitive edge technology can provide to retailers. Learn how savvy tech solutions can boost shelf availability and drive sales while minimising waste, as proven by successful implementations in UK supermarkets. Simon outlines a vision of streamlined operations and rapid scalability, offering a glimpse of a promising, tech-enhanced retail future
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Welcome to the Productivity Podcast. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by a returning guest, simon Shankster. Hi Simon.
Speaker 2:Morning Simon. How are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good, thank you, but you are in a new role, so you're now the Director of Sales in MIA for Focal Systems.
Speaker 2:I am, yeah, a bit of a change from when we last spoke. It was some time ago when I was back at ITAB. We talked about changes during COVID and new norm of the operating model. So yeah, it's a few years ago now since we last did this.
Speaker 1:It is so settling into your new role. Do you want to tell us a bit about? I'll call them Focal from now on. About Focal yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:So Focal were founded in 2015. So they're based in San Francisco, california, and their mission is about applying the latest advancements in computer vision and AI to help and optimize retail. So we've been doing that for kind of the last 10 years. Shelf intelligence is where our focus is and that's the key thing really that we've been working on now and I think the reason why I spent seven years at ITAB before this and 25 years in operational retail roles prior to that.
Speaker 2:But I think making that change to F're really solving the right challenges for retail with the right level of support for colleagues without kind of too much technology, which is really interesting, because I think one key thing that I'm seeing at the moment is that for the last few years, retailers have been talking more about loss and shrink and the impact of that is obviously massive. But I think we're starting to come to a point where being able to tackle it relatively limited, that no one really likes defensive merchandising and anything that you do is a deterrent with limited timeline and the consequences are fairly futile, and I think people are starting to see the impact on availability as being the challenge. And how do we look at stock stolen not being on the shelf for the next customer and focusing on availability as opposed to loss applies a bit of a different perspective that's helping make shops better, not worse. So it's quite an interesting time really for me to make a change and join something that I think is exactly right time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's always a perfect storm, isn't it? But it's interesting that whole loss prevention piece can become sales prevention. We've seen some figures on LinkedIn recently about people locking up kind of beers, wines and spirits and, yes, loss has gone down, but it's also decimated sales. We've talked about it to death on the podcast, but the whole change is coming in april for ni and national insurance and all the other bits for retailers. You know, as we're time of recording, we've just come out of christmas and there's already people creaking about closing stores and doing stuff different. So having less colleagues on the floor which again is counterintuitive to the whole shrink thing, because the best thing you can do, and it's proven is have people is the biggest deterrent. So having less people just opens up more opportunities. So, yeah, interesting times. So tell us a bit about the technology then.
Speaker 2:Okay. So the focal operating system is made of three key things. So the first bit is tiny on-shelf cameras and those cameras capture an image at a predetermined frequency, so usually every hour, and those cameras can cover 100% of the store. So if you take a grocer, we can do ambient fridges, freezers, loose fruit and veg. But what's good is the cameras are battery powered so the batteries last about two years and we operate focal as a service so we can maintain that and manage that uptime. But it means that installation is super easy. So to give you an example, we'll install typically about 500 cameras in a single store in usually one, maybe two nights, because we haven't got loads of complicated wiring and it's just a wi-fi connection. But the way that the cameras work is that they're asleep for most of the time. So we're not into gdpr and identifiable information. The cameras are asleep. They wake up at their allotted time slot, capture an image, upload that optimized via wi-fi back to sleep and that's why the batteries last so long. So the first part is the cameras. The second part is the clever bit, the deep learning platform. So we translate those images into GDPR compliant actions for store colleagues, so we don't capture any images of people. The first thing that we do is, if someone happens to be stood in the way at the point that camera captures the image, all of the pixels drop. So we do not process or store anything that sees a person.
Speaker 2:And I think you kind of talk about putting 500 cameras in a supermarket and everybody panics and says it's Big Brother watching you, and it really isn't that at all.
Speaker 2:But the platform, then, because we have a direct feed to store inventory file and an hourly sales data, we can accurately measure gaps, lows and planogram issues and we present them back to the colleague via their existing handheld device. So what it means is, if you have a gap on the shelf and your stock file suggests that you have that stock is, if you have a gap on the shelf and your stock file suggests that you have that stock, we only present the things that you can do something about. So the store colleague on their handheld, whatever they've got, will have something called the focal action tool and what that does is it comes up and says here are the jobs that you should do in a priority order. So, for example, it defaults by value, so it applies a value, but what it could do is say, actually these top 200 lines are the most important lines for my customers. Therefore we solve those problems first. It might be followed by promotional activity that have a higher value so that's what you do next.
Speaker 2:But we're able to really help the colleague know what to do and where to go. So, for example, if something is a gap on shelf but it's available on a promotional feature, our system will be able to steer the colleague to say it's a gap here, but I can see it is in stock there. So your task is to spread that stock out or merchandise that stock on the shelf. So we're only giving the colleagues activity that they can really do something about. So at the moment in a store you would have a gap scan process of some type, whether that's once a day. Some retailers do it twice a day, three times a day, depending on who they are, but typically a once a day gap scan. We're replacing that with an hourly gap scan, so 15 gap scans a day. But we're only then highlighting the tasks that you can do something about, and that's where it becomes really clever.
Speaker 1:Yeah so presenting those actionable insights is an important part, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Completely, because at the moment, you'd scan a gap not knowing whether you can do something about that or not, whereas we ignore all of that. We do that work for the store. So we're saying, actually, this is what you've got, these are the things that you can do something about. And the third and final part is the reporting and dashboards. Never before has a retailer been able to see availability in the same way that the customer is seeing it. This is true on-shelf availability.
Speaker 2:So not a supply chain metric, but uh, what is your customer seeing in terms of gaps? And we measure that by hour, by day, by store, by region, by group. So, using specific store sales data, we can also present the value of lost sales or, more importantly, recovered sales, so that data can then be used to support supply chain layout, range colleagues, scheduling, as well as making it better for shoppers. And we gamify that as well in a way that sort of allows you to celebrate great colleagues, so you're able to say, look, well done today, simon, you've done a great job and you've recovered two thousand pounds worth of sales through your activity and a task that you've completed and that becomes really powerful to. It's the first time I've ever seen a gap related to a physical pound note applicable to that store, which is quite interesting yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 1:And again I suppose you then get into all the nuances of retail for those that work in it. So dual locations, promotional ends where we might have the stock in one place, so it shows stock on hand, not necessarily the warehouse, and I suppose in this day and age overstock shelves as well, and then that then transposes into a gap somewhere else and again potential lost sale yeah, and that's the difference is we don't just say, oh, by the way, you have this stock and it's on a promotional feature somewhere.
Speaker 2:We say we have this stock, it's on promotion feature seven. Here's a store map that shows you where it is, and I can see that that stock is there now. So it becomes really targeted, because if it's a gap on both, it's a gap on both. That's the supply chain issues. No point in a store colleague running around. And back to your point about shrink. What this does is keep colleagues on the shop floor and the right place that they're doing. And this isn't about well, it could be about saving hours, but it could be about redeploying hours to say, make you visible, to give great service, as opposed to running backwards and forwards to the warehouse to see if something's there when a customer asks you. So it's just really about improving the efficiency of colleagues and putting them in the right place, where the customers need them to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things we're looking to prove out this year is the cost of touching stock. So you know, I'll give the example you, your delivery, comes in at the back door, lets you supermarkets, because we all go there. Tray of beans comes in, so there might be I don't know 24 tins on a tray. Tray goes out, shelf is full, goes back in the warehouse two days later goes out. Shelves fall back in the warehouse two days later goes out. Six tins go out, go back in the warehouse. Because of the cost pressures. You come to a point, with the hourly rate and all the on costs that are coming, that it's probably a negative. It's not worth you selling that product because you've spent more labour putting it out than the cost of the product.
Speaker 2:Now yeah, and we've started to see similar where we're working with some retailers in the US where, because we know shelf capacity and case sizes, we're able to walk the warehouse scan and it'll say whether that whole case will go out or not. Which means, instead of picking one and saying, don't bother, just pick it when a case goes out and let's be really efficient, because there's no point in taking one. It adds no value. So it's being able to translate the least amount of moves that a colleague needs to do to create the best availability that you can give to your customers throughout the trading day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. So there's lots of kind of key benefits you've talked about productivity shrink and then all these halo benefits around sales. So in any retailer, the more sales you can drive, you typically then get the benefit of maybe having more colleagues in the next budget round and it means that your waste numbers aren't as aggressive, et cetera, because it's all a volume game, right.
Speaker 2:Definitely definitely.
Speaker 2:And, I think, the key benefits obviously look, productivity is the key one, the operational saving element. If you're taking away a process that takes you four or five hours a day and you don't have to do that any day at all, all of a sudden all of those hours become available to do something else with. But actually the second key bit is the sales increase. So largely the measurement is about 1% increase in availability is about half a percent increase in sales and we're seeing uplifts of 2%, 3%, 4% in availability in many, many stores and we've now implemented this shelf edge tech across 15 retailers on three continents. We've got a national UK supermarket rollout, so we're in 500 stores that we deal with in six months and that's resulting in a 2% on shelf availability improvement and the savings that go with it. So we know that they're the benefits that are helping.
Speaker 2:But then you start to get added ones, like if your stock falls more in order, then your back of house starts to drop. So we're typically seeing around a third reduction in those stores in the UK and store managers are reporting waste reductions of up to about a thousand pounds a week to say you know, I'm throwing less away because I'm getting the right stock in the right flow. So and then when you start to lay out, to say, okay, you can see this stuff, what else could you do? But actually we're looking at things like theft reporting. So we saw a product, then we didn't see a product, but we didn't see a sale, which is we didn't see a sale, which is quite interesting. And we're just starting to work on that now to be able to say how do we translate that into an action, as well as things like scanning back of house so immediately know if that product will go out, or whether we do things like emergency product withdrawal, so these mince pies have to be removed immediately. Well, not only can we force the compliance, but we can also then see that these tasks have been done.
Speaker 2:So the dashboard allows head offices to be able to sit and literally store walk any store on the estate within the last hour to have a look at how well it's presented and what their real availability and what their customers see. And we put my regional manager hat on. It's kind of brilliant and a little bit scary at the same time, but it's powerful to be able to really see. You know what the stores look like and what are we showing customers every single hour of the day and you know some of the figures we're seeing at end of day out of stocks, you know 5pm, 6pm, 7pm are so much less than what they've ever been before, because you're not leaving it till overnight, you're tackling it through the day. So, yeah, it's, it's as I say. I think we're starting to tackle the things that are really topical at the moment with retailers that you know we can help them do things a little bit easier, which is always a big thing for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and with that ease of install kind of low-tech overhead points of view, makes a massive difference because if it becomes some big install job with lots of contractors and lots of wires and cables going everywhere we all know back to my days at Boots every shot was different and it becomes a project within a project.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's two things. I think there's the tech thing and I think there's a property thing. I think the property thing you get into the world of of various regulations and this building got asbestos and all of those things. But from a tech point of view, you know, we, we aim to be the lightest possible touch to try, because as soon as you try and get on any kind of tech roadmap, it's two, three years. You know, this is kind of going. We can try this without disturbing anybody or anything and let's see what this does and that that's that's what's really helping us accelerate. You know the retailer in the uk.
Speaker 1:They did one store, six stores, 500 stores within six months, and that's, that's what's exciting yeah, amazing good stuff and again wider benefits, so lots of electronic shelf edge labels and those type of things. So there must be a benefit of linking the two so you can do some fancy stuff yeah, definitely we've.
Speaker 2:We've started to do that quite recently where, if we can combine what a shelf edge label sees with our data, we're able to do a couple of things. So one is we can enable pick by light, so if a colleague has a task, we can flash the edge label to help the colleague find that gap quicker. But also we can automate things that automate messaging. So, for example, we confirm that that product is not available. Therefore, we can translate that to a message to the customer that says it's temporarily unavailable, or tell them that it's available somewhere else in the store. So we can start to use that messaging to say your customer sees the price, but we can then layer on some of the messaging that they weren't able to have before. So I think there's definitely some interlock between at-shelf tech, whether that's ESLs or cameras. I think the two things do start to fit together in some way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the whole universe of connected things. It's just getting stronger and stronger, isn't it? And then you get clearly the halo effect of all the additional benefits because the tech's already there. Actually, how can you work with others to provide those deeper insights?
Speaker 2:yeah, and I think we have a responsibility, I think when we work with retailers, I think it shouldn't be up to the retailers to try and work out all of the different complementary bits of tech, and I think you know I've always worked in the same way. The same as you have is to be able to sort of say, well, how come what we do complement other things that are already available and take some of that legwork away for the retailers. So it's a good way to work, I think yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And on that point then, if people are interested, it's sparked some kind of um questions in their minds what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:um, so there's a couple of things. We we're doing a number of the main shows, so, depending on timing of when this goes out, but we'll be at NRF. We're also at Eurosys in February, but if anybody wants to kind of contact me direct, you can find me very easily on LinkedIn. Just drop me a message. I'd be more than happy to chat.
Speaker 1:Perfect Good. Well, it's great to catch up again. Glad you've settled into your new role.
Speaker 2:it sounds like there's some exciting developments ahead absolutely, absolutely, yeah, and it's been really good, really good to talk to you again. I appreciate your time brilliant thanks, simon.
Speaker 1:Catch up soon, cheers. Thank you.
