One of the UK’s largest co-operatives is leveraging an AI tool to replace manual checks to check when products are nearing their expiry date as it looks to curb food waste.
The novel move is being carried out by Your Co-op, a family of businesses operated by the Midcounties Co-operative. The retailer currently runs more than 230 food stores across the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
The AI tool automatically identifies products nearing expiry, alerting staff members and pinpointing products where action is needed.
The retailer says the move will streamline the markdown process and stock exit procedures and erases the need for time-consuming manual checks, improving in-store teams’ productivity and freeing them to serve customers.
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Your Co-op teamed up with retail tech firm Retail Insight, which it first worked with in 2019, on the AI tool.
Midcounties Co-op head of supply chain Jordan Clement said: “As a Co-operative, sustainability is at the heart of what we do.
“We’re excited to be innovative around waste reduction by exploring new opportunities in technology.
“We believe this development will not only help us reduce the amount of food going to landfill, but will also give our colleagues more time to do the things they would rather be doing; spending time engaging with and serving our customers and members.”
Jessica Westwell, client manager at Retail Insight, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Your Co-op on our Prompted Markdown solution to improve expiration date management processes and to gain labour efficiencies and process compliance.
“This is an exciting new stage for them and continues to build on the benefits already seen from our Dynamic Markdown solution.”
Meanwhile, Aldi is using AI to verify and track the flexible plastic packaging collected from the public for recycling via its front-of-store collection points.
AI could mitigate up to 5 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, according to a new report from Google and Boston Consulting Group.
