LAS VEGAS — Simbe Robotics unveiled Simbe for Merchants at Groceryshop 2025, a new suite of tools designed to give merchandising teams unprecedented visibility into what's happening on store shelves. The rollout marks Simbe's first purpose-built solution for a specific retail team, reflecting the growing pressure retailers face to execute flawlessly in a hypercompetitive environment.
Caitlin Allen, senior vice president of marketing for Simbe Robotics, explained in an interview with The Packer that the launch helps solve for real-time visibility in high-volume, high-velocity categories like produce.
“Today, 60% of planograms have inaccuracies,” Allen says. “Our product reads the shelf and gives merchants the ability to look at what we call a ‘realogram' — basically what the shelf actually looks like — instead of waiting days for field teams to send pictures. That's not just efficiency; it's sustainability, too, since it cuts out all those unnecessary car trips.”
“Retailers win or lose at the shelf, yet actual shelf visibility has always been limited to spot checks and occasional store visits,” says Tom Gehani, vice president of product for Simbe. “With Simbe for Merchants, teams have access to the daily insights they need to ensure the right products are where they belong, displays are set right and vendors are aligned on execution.”
Why It Matters Now
The timing underscores a critical industry challenge. Recent Coresight Research shows retailers lose 5.5% of sales and 5% of margin to in-store inefficiencies, while shoppers consistently cite empty shelves and pricing errors as their top frustrations, the company says. With fresh produce playing an outsized role in driving grocery trips and brand loyalty, the implications for produce departments are especially strong.
Allen notes that fresh is where these gains may be most visible.
“Fresh is a big draw for shoppers into traditional grocery stores in a world where online incumbents matter so much,” she says.
By combining robot-powered scans with fixed sensors, Simbe captures critical details several times a day, including whether produce is available, properly priced and stocked at peak demand.
“Let's say bananas tend to run low around 5 p.m. Our system can flag that in real time so store teams can replenish before customers walk away disappointed,” Allen says.
“Retailers win or lose at the shelf, yet actual shelf visibility has always been limited to spot checks and occasional store visits,” Gehani says. “With Simbe for Merchants, merchandising teams have access to the daily insights they need to ensure the right products are where they belong, displays are set right and vendors are aligned on execution unlocking measurable sales and margin gains.”
Expanding the Platform
Simbe also revealed Simbe Mobile 2.0, a redesigned app built with store associate feedback. The update promises streamlined navigation, smarter task management and instant store health snapshots. It will be available in app stores next month.
For produce leaders, the launch signals a sharper set of tools to fight margin erosion and shopper frustration. With perishables among the highest-turnover items — and central to how grocers differentiate themselves — timely execution can mean the difference between loyalty and lost customers. By digitizing the shelf, Simbe aims to make produce execution not just measurable, but predictable.
“Solutions like Simbe's can't just live with store operations,” says Sean Spillane, former senior vice president of strategy and real estate for Stop & Shop and a strategic adviser for Simbe. “Reflecting on my experience, I recommend bringing merchants into the shelf digitization program early. They have so much to gain from this data, and the value is undeniable.”
The announcement of these new apabilities reflects the growing maturity of the shelf digitization space, Simbe says. Building on milestones such as Simbe's Strategic Advisory Board and advanced capabilities for fresh departments, Simbe for Merchants leads the way as the first in a series of tailored, team-specific solutions designed to extend store intelligence across the retail organization as foundational data infrastructure that powers modern artificial intelligence initiatives, the company says.
