Country Supplier Reduces Out-of-Stocks and Boosts Pricing Accuracy with Real-Time Shelf Intelligence
“Tally has made a major impact on our pricing accuracy as well as our out-of-stock rate. Our replenishment teams now have a great tool to use to keep items on shelves for our customers.”
AT A GLANCE
- Retailer: Country Supplier (C-A-L Ranch & Coastal banners)
- Segment: Farm & Ranch Supply
- Stores Deployed: Chainwide expansion to all 55 locations across Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington
- Focus Areas: Pricing accuracy, out-of-stocks, operational efficiency
- Key Wins:
- 24% improvement in on-shelf availability
- 91% improvement in price accuracy
- ~12–20 hours/week labor efficiency gains per store
- Chainwide expansion greenlit in under 4 months
The Challenge
Country Supplier aimed to improve on-shelf availability and pricing accuracy, core drivers of shopper trust and operational excellence. While store teams were diligent, manually auditing tags and shelf conditions could take days or weeks, with gaps in visibility leaving room for missed out-of-stocks and pricing errors. Leadership saw an opportunity to strengthen consistency and coverage across all stores without overloading associates.
The Approach
In May 2024, Country Supplier launched a pilot across three high-performing locations to test Simbe’s Tally. The goals were clear:
- Improve on-shelf availability
- Improve price compliance
- Increase labor productivity
Tally scanned stores three times per day, supported by custom reporting and Simbe’s mobile app, streamlining daily tasks. Simbe partnered closely with store managers and regional teams through weekly check ins, hands-on support, and tailored change management practices.
“We partnered with Simbe because we saw a huge potential to use this technology to free up our associates to better meet our customers’ needs.”
Following a resoundingly successful pilot, Country Supplier approved chainwide expansion in September 2024 and launched a phased rollout just three months later. To ensure successful scale and even deeper value realization, the team implemented new enhancements across three key areas:
1. Strengthening Consistency & Engagement
- Created and refined daily SOPs for store teams covering out-of-stock checks, phantom inventory resolution, price audits, and task prioritization, designed to drive consistency across departments
- Launched the Simbe mobile app across all in-store handhelds
- Developed and rolled out visual shelf reports with tagged out-of-stocks
2. Improving Reporting & Insights
- Introduced live performance dashboards for Regional and District Managers to monitor store-by-store progress
- Initiated weekly replenishment reports for purchasing, flagging items on order >30 days to support vendor accountability
- Continued refinement of phantom inventory detection and SKU-level product location insights
3. Sharing Best Practices & Training
- Built new training playbooks and change management support based on pilot learnings
- Facilitated best practice sharing between early pilot stores and new deployment regions
“Our store associates love Tally. They view her as part of the team because she helps them do their jobs more efficiently.”
Results & Impact
Through hands-on partnership with store teams, from the initial pilot through early scale, Simbe helped Country Supplier translate insights into sustained execution and drove measurable operational wins:
- 24% reduction in out-of-stocks
- 91% improvement in price compliance
- ~12–20 hours/week in labor productivity gains per store
- Less time spent on pricing audits and improved execution quality
- Easier navigation for store teams via customized reports
- Greater visibility into phantom inventory
“Before Tally, it could take us weeks to audit a store. Now, we get full coverage multiple times per day and our teams are freed up to serve customers.”
- Randy Holmes, Regional Director of Operations, C-A-L Ranch
The result? Associates embraced the solution as a teammate, not a tool.
These outcomes reflect not just automation, but a people-first rollout grounded in shared problem-solving, in-store support, and frontline empowerment.
Key Takeaways
Country Supplier’s success was rooted in more than just technology, it came from empowering store teams with daily data, streamlined tools, and hands-on support. Real-time insights replaced weekly guesswork, enabling faster, more confident action. Pricing accuracy became a loyalty driver, and automation freed up time for higher-value work.
The difference-maker was a pilot-first, people-first approach. Simbe partnered directly with store teams to address challenges in real time, build intuitive processes, and create tools that fit how stores operate. The result was not just better performance, but expanded value, from improved out-of-stock detection to scalable best practices, setting the stage for sustained innovation across all 55 stores.
