Ida, a French startup, has raised $2.9 million (€2.7 million) in seed funding to develop a tablet app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the ordering of fresh produce in supermarkets and grocery stores. The company aims to address the issues of food waste and shortages that arise from the traditional method of using error-prone order sheets.
Currently, grocery stores rely on cumbersome order sheets with numerous columns representing the reordering schedule. Store employees manually review these sheets and make educated guesses about the quantities to order based on past trends and personal judgement. However, this process is not always accurate, resulting in either excess inventory or insufficient stock.
Ida aims to change this process by providing grocers with a tablet app connected to a sales forecasting algorithm. The app guides store employees in making informed decisions about when to reorder specific fresh produce items. By focusing on perishable goods, Ida recognizes the underserved aspect of supermarket inventory management, which is more challenging to predict than non-perishable items.
Unlike other inventory management systems that rely solely on data from point-of-sale transactions, Ida generates a probabilistic inventory that takes into account real-life scenarios. For example, the system factors in the difference between organic and non-organic produce sales, as well as the varying shelf life of different fruits and vegetables.
To generate accurate forecasts, Ida considers over a hundred different parameters, including weather conditions, seasonality, prices, competition from other grocery stores, and special offers. With this data, Ida generates optimal reorder quantities, taking into account constraints related to packaging sizes and current inventory levels.
While Ida’s system generates order forms automatically, store employees have the option to review and manually adjust the recommendations. According to the startup, approximately 70 to 75% of Ida’s suggestions are accurate and do not require intervention from store employees. Once the final order is confirmed, Ida can generate order forms for both the central purchasing office and local producers, providing a streamlined process for all stakeholders.
Other startups, such as Guac in the U.S., are also exploring AI-based solutions for fresh produce ordering. It remains to be seen how quickly grocery stores will adopt these innovations to manage their fresh products more efficiently. Nevertheless, integrating AI technology into the ordering process not only improves profit margins for supermarkets but also contributes to reducing food waste and its environmental impact.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
