Friendly Express to Implement New AI Monitoring Platform
WAYCROSS, Ga. — Friendly Express Inc. is adding an extension of the Standard AI Vision platform to address loss, inventory management and other retail operational challenges. The platform leverages advanced visual artificial intelligence (AI) in the most profitable sector of convenience retail.
Current Standard Zones are offered in the tobacco, beer, and fresh food/grab-and-go sections of c-stores. In the future, Standard AI plans to bring the Vision platform to other sections, including lottery, cash drawer, fuel and more.
Friendly Express is one of multiple retailers planning to roll out the new Zone Monitoring to understand and prevent loss, and better manage out-of-stocks and inventory. The setup includes the installation of three to five cameras over the transaction zone paired with visual AI that monitors every interaction with the shelf. Out-of-stock notifications are delivered for real-time inventory management, while suspected theft is captured via video clip and is accessible by store management.
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The system provides analytics, trends, and insights for a deeper understanding of shopping behavior and theft trends in that zone, according to Standard AI.
"We've used Skip self-checkout to help augment our in-store teams and better the shopper experience," said Amy Wood, director of IT, Friendly Express. "We are excited about the promise of new tobacco and fresh food trackers to help us lower shrink and ensure the right products are on the shelf when customers want them."
The Standard AI Vision platform and new Zone monitoring offerings provide enhanced customer analytics and smarter inventory management; theft deterrence; and accessibility and affordability. The company is planning future features like ID-check verification, point-of-sale area and voided transactions monitoring, cash handling surveillance, lottery tracking and planogram compliance.
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As part of Standard AI's commitment to ethical considerations and privacy rights, the Vision platform ensures no facial recognition, to avoid potential biases, and no demographics, focusing solely on the manner in which customers interact with shelves and ingesting no other information.
Based in Waycross, Friendly Express operates 37 c-stores in southeast Georgia.