Wakefern, the Largest U.S. Retailer-Owned Grocery Coop, Unlocks New Levels of On-Shelf Visibility and Labor Efficiency

AT A GLANCE

• Retailer: Wakefern Food Corp.
• Segment: Regional Grocery Cooperative
• Stores Deployed: 120 ShopRite stores across 20 member-owners
• Focus Areas: On-shelf availability, pricing accuracy, labor efficiency, inventory accuracy
• Key Wins:
  • 43% improvement in on-shelf availability (year over year)
  • 87% reduction in price errors (early stage pilot)
  • 25-40 hours/wk/store labor efficiency gains
  • Near real-time insights across 50k scans/store/day
  • Fully deployed across 16 members; piloting across 4 more

Wakefern operates one of the most complex and dynamic grocery networks in the country. As a cooperative of independently owned and operated banners, Wakefern must balance enterprise-wide performance with the unique needs of each member across diverse store formats, systems, and operational models.

Every store has a different truck schedule. A different labor model. A different staffing level. A different mix of distribution centers across the co-op. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Execution varies by store, and success depends on close collaboration and tailored support.

Stores also faced mounting challenges managing inventory accuracy, pricing compliance, weights and measures accuracy, labor constraints, and visibility into third-party (DSD) products. Routine tasks like shelf checks, price audits, and identifying phantom inventory were inconsistent and time-consuming. In some cases, stores didn’t know which tags were even “turned on” for auto-replenishment, or whether catch weight items were properly scanned and labeled, leading to gaps in ordering, inventory integrity, and product availability.

Wakefern’s leadership needed a better way to unify store-level execution, surface real-time issues, and drive data-backed decisions at scale.

Wakefern launched a targeted pilot with Simbe’s Store Intelligence™ platform at select locations. The goal was to evaluate whether Tally’s autonomous scanning and real-time reporting could deliver measurable improvements in on-shelf visibility, pricing accuracy, and labor efficiency.

From the start, Simbe partnered closely with Wakefern to ensure store-by-store fit. Each deployment was optimized based on the operational realities of individual banners and locations. Truck schedules, overnight shifts, labor bandwidth, and store formats all informed how Tally was integrated.

Reports were tailored to reflect each store’s specific needs, including flags for item status, receipt dates, auto-order activation, negative inventory, and more. These data points helped stores identify systemic blockers like stale inventory and inactive tags, often for the first time.

Training and onboarding focused on empowering store teams to act on insights. Simbe worked shoulder to shoulder with teams to integrate insights into daily routines, reinforce usage, and scale best practices across banners.

After a successful pilot, Tally was rolled out to additional stores and banners. Today, 126 ShopRite locations across 20 owner groups use Tally to:

• Conduct 50K scans/store/day
• Generate prioritized daily task lists by department and vendor
• Improve on-shelf availability
• Identify phantom inventory and pricing errors
• Enable virtual store walks and remote oversight

Across Wakefern, Simbe delivered measurable value—from early pilots to long-term scaled deployments. No matter the size or maturity of the implementation, teams saw tangible improvements in shelf accuracy, pricing compliance, and operational efficiency.

Established, Scaled Stores (20+ locations, multi-year engagement):

• 43% increase in on-shelf availability
• 10% improvement in addressable outs
• 40% improvement in pricing accuracy (non-ESL stores)
• <0.5% price error rate

"Tally has helped my team reduce our OOS rate by 50% in one of our highest volume stores by providing prioritized pick lists for every category. With the challenges of everyday operations and the shortage of personnel in the labor force, this is the first time we have been able to cover every aisle every day."

- Director of Shrink Analytics and Inventory Control

Mid-Stage Expanding Stores (10–20 locations, several months live):

• 34% increase in on-shelf availability
• 37% improvement in addressable outs
• 35% improvement in pricing accuracy

"Along with the reduced errors in pricing visuals with the scanning team, store out of stocks & conditions are improving as well all thanks to Tally & the team."

- Store Director

Early-Stage Pilots (1–5 locations, ~30 days live):

• 87% reduction in price errors

From long-time users to recent pilots, Wakefern’s member-owners credit Tally with enabling faster detection and correction of pricing and stock issues, greater consistency across departments, and clearer visibility into shelf-level execution. The platform proved valuable at every phase—whether helping a single store surface hidden issues or enabling multi-location teams to scale daily wins across their network.

Additional Capabilities Delivered

• Pick Path Optimization: Piloting Simbe’s maps to power the Online Pickup Delivery (OPD) team’s internal shopper solution for faster e-comm order picking
• Vendor Reporting: Piloting visual vendor compliance dashboards for product-level accountability
• Advanced Aria Reporting: Flagging phantom inventory, pricing errors, and chronic holes
• Simbe Virtual Tour: Utilizing remote 360° store walks
• Tally Spot Monitoring: Piloting fixed-camera coverage for high-velocity items like seafood, meat, rotisserie, and prepared foods

What's Next

With consistent wins across banners, Wakefern continues expanding Simbe across its cooperative. The platform has become a foundational tool for store teams, helping Wakefern redefine what operational excellence looks like one aisle at a time.

Wakefern’s success wasn’t just about adopting technology—it came from investing in store teams with daily insights, tailored workflows, and collaborative support. With real-time visibility into shelf conditions, associates took faster action on out-of-stocks and pricing gaps while reallocating time to higher-value service.

Simbe’s pilot-first, people-first approach proved essential. By working directly with member teams to refine workflows and support adoption, Simbe helped tailor implementation to the operational realities of each store. That support delivered cooperative-wide impact, with outcomes that scaled across banners, store formats, and operational models.