Augmented reality from IBM is helping Tesco manage its shelves to help with the problem where shelves end up looking very different from the original plan with misplaced and missing products. Tesco staff at the pilot store near London can now use their tablets or smartphones to photograph the current status of the aisles, including the quantity and siting of goods. The system then employs image recognition technology to identify the products and augmented reality to superimpose information from the retailer’s database and online resources and detect deviations from the plan.
If detected, it can then alert staff to take corrective action. Such technology could be extremely useful in supporting Tesco’s efforts to make its stores more attractive and to make store processes more efficient. “Delivering a better shopping experience to our customers includes making sure products are well stocked and easy to find,” said Mike McNamara, CIO, Tesco. “The IBM application will help us to improve store operations beyond the current manual processes and barcode-based methods.”
