Smart Back Room Innovations to Revolutionise Retail

It’s a little over three weeks until the showcase finale of our On-Shelf Availability (OSA) Innovation Challenge. These initiatives have the power to tackle some of the stubborn problems in retail today. Each week we will shine a spotlight on one of the focus areas where our innovators will have the biggest impact. This week: the Back Room.

Introducing the retail revolutionaries looking to break down the wall of brown boxes. These backroom innovators have the potential to transform the pivotal part of efficient store operations.

For retail loss prevention experts, understanding and implementing solutions in the back room is crucial for reducing shrinkage, optimising inventory accuracy, and ensuring that what’s on paper matches what’s on the shelves.

So much of the action in any store takes place behind the scenes. And the backroom area has unique challenges that can lead to significant operational inefficiencies:

• Replenishment: Deciding which products hit the shop floor first can have a major impact on sales.
• Identifying Items in Chillers: Delays in finding the right product in cold, cramped conditions can lead to spoilage.
• Navigating the 'Wall of Brown Boxes': A disorganised back room makes locating specific items a cumbersome task.
• Inventory Mismatches: Discrepancies between shipped items and inventory records can lead to empty shelves and lost sales.

Our judges were looking for smart approaches to these real-world problems.

Standout innovations that impressed our panel of 36 global OSA experts, representing dozens of leading international brands, in the Back Room category include:

Gather AI

Subcategory: Poor inventory record-keeping

Gather AI enhances on-shelf availability with drone-powered inventory monitoring, boosting accuracy and warehouse efficiency without infrastructure changes.

Shopnosis

Subcategory: Prioritisation of stock movement onto the shop floor

Shopnosis optimises on-shelf availability by enabling virtual simulations of store layouts, assortments, and pricing to enhance retail decision-making.

Will either of these be among the ten finalists selected to pitch to our judges? The only way to find out is to sign up for our OSA Innovation Challenge showcase finale on May 22.