Kroger Shares Computer Vision Shelf Data With Suppliers; Canned Goods Report Feeling Watched, But In A Supportive Way

CINCINNATI—Kroger is sharing computer vision data from its stores with supplier partners to improve on-shelf availability, executives said, and is piloting radio-frequency identification across roughly 1,500 store bakeries, giving the grocery shelf an unprecedented level of attention that the canned goods on it have described as "a lot, but nice."

According to Supply Chain Dive, executives said at an Oct. 20 investor day that the bakery RFID pilot has delivered a 98% read rate, nearly 70% faster inventory counts and a 50% reduction in waste, and that Kroger plans to roll RFID out to more than 2,300 stores by 2029. The company's AI tool connects to 20 data pipelines with visibility down to the store and item level. Kroger is also building an automated site in Franklin, Ky., due in 2028.

On a fictional shelf in aisle 7, a can of chicken noodle soup said it had noticed the change. "I used to sit here for weeks and nobody knew I existed," the can said. "Now somebody in a supplier's office knows I am the last one, and that I am slightly turned to the left. It is a lot of pressure. I have started standing up straighter. I think I am a better can for it."

"Somebody in a supplier's office knows I am the last one, and that I am slightly turned to the left."

In the bakery, the RFID pilot was received with emotion. "Before this, we were counted by a man named Doug with a clipboard at 5 a.m.," said a fictional blueberry muffin. "Doug did his best. Doug missed some of us. Now we are read at 98%. I have never been seen like this. I am thinking about the two percent, though. I think about them every day."

Suppliers said the data was already changing their thinking. "We used to guess whether we were out of stock," said a fictional sales director at a soup company. "Now we know. We know exactly when, and exactly which shelf. It turns out knowing is much worse. I liked guessing. Guessing had hope."

Industry observers said the next frontier is getting the data to drive action, a point Kroger's executives made as well. "Signals become decisions," said a fictional consultant, reading from a slide. "Decisions become actions. Actions become a quarterly business review that runs 40 minutes over."

At press time, the last can of chicken noodle soup had been purchased, and a dashboard 800 miles away had turned briefly, beautifully red.

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