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Retail Industry Robots
Overview
Retailers are increasingly seeking to improve operational efficiency through robots to carry out tasks such as micro-fulfillment operations, inventory management, cleaning, and customer assistance. Pressure to enter the e-commerce market, optimize efficiency, and increase sales drives demand for retail robots. Advancement in sensor technology and retail availability of advanced chips facilitates adoption of these technologies. The Covid-19 pandemic has further fueled adoption of retail robots as a solution for improving in-store sanitation and inventory management with minimal employee contact.
Industry Updates
Market Sizing
The US Retail Industry Robots market could reach USD 4.8 billion–6.3 billion by 2028
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Use cases
Robotics technologies have been adopted across various industries in the retail sector, mainly within Consumer staples and Consumer discretionary segments. Micro-fulfillment solutions, inventory management robots, floor-cleaning robots, and customer analytics solutions are popular among grocery and supermarket retailers, clothing and textile retailers, and consumer electronics retailers.
Retailers use automated order fulfillment to increase order accuracy and enhance on-time deliveries, leveraging IoT and sensor vision-powered solutions to gather customer and store insights. They’re also employing computer vision and RFID technologies for inventory management, reducing stockouts, and preventing inventory losses. Autonomous floor-cleaning robots are also freeing up staff time and cutting cleaning costs. Additionally, robotic solutions are being deployed for customer assistance, handling tasks like answering queries and carrying baggage.
We have identified the key retail industry robot use cases below:
Market Mapping
The majority of incumbents and disruptors in the retail robotics space provide offerings in inventory management. The micro-fulfillment segment is witnessing increased interest and several companies are entering the market through partnerships with retailers. Incumbents are likely to gain access to technology through acquisition and partnerships as well as development of in-house technology. The majority of disruptors develop proprietary technology in-house.
Micro-fulfillment
Inventory management
Floor cleaning
Customer assistance and analytics
The Disruptors
Among the startups supplying micro-fulfillment centers, Fabric is the next most active disruptor in terms of US partnerships with retailers such as FreshDirect. Newer companies such as Ohi have also been able to expand their operations by forming partnerships with companies such as OUAI and Olipop.
On the inventory robotics side, Simbe Robotics (Tally) has gained significant traction through sales partnerships with Schnucks Markets and Decathlon as well as through an agreement with SoftBank Robotics and several other companies to market its products internationally. Bossa Nova Robotics is also a notable inventory robot disruptor due to its partnerships formed with several large scale retailers such as Albertsons. However, its flagship inventory tracking partnership with Walmart was canceled in November 2020.
Funding History
Competitive Analysis
Incumbents
Most incumbents already operate as business-to-business robotic providers with acquisitions and partnerships used as the most common market entry strategies Most retail robotics industry incumbents develop technology in-house or partner with companies that provide related services to obtain and co-develop their technology. Most of these companies already operate as established robotic suppliers focusing on the business-to-business (B2B) market. There are also some retailers—such as Amazon and Ocado—who have developed their own technology, especially in the micro-fulfillment area, while also selling their technology to other retailers. Several incumbents such as FANUC Corporation and Vargo that were already developing robots in related areas such as warehouse robots have recognized the opportunity and entered the micro-fulfillment space.
Notable Investors
