How AI devices uncover lost sales at retail checkout counters

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Photo credit: Daniel Hazman

In 2018, Nimbly launched Nimbly Ops to digitize retail store checklists and audits. Customers began asking why two stores completing the same checklist had different sales.

The team realized self-reported forms hid the reality of store operations. They pivoted to building Nimbly AI, a system that listens to staff-customer interactions.

😟 Problem

Head offices lack visibility into daily counter interactions at retail chains. At a busy outlet, which handles about 9,000 customer conversations a month, an area manager visiting four times a month hears roughly 40 of them. Mystery shoppers evaluate even fewer interactions.

Management cannot verify if staff actually greet customers or mention promotions. Checklists and audit forms are self-reported. Sales reports only track successful conversions and ignore missed opportunities.

💡 Solution

Nimbly AI uses wearable and fixed audio devices to monitor retail interactions. Staff wear a small device called Echo Go, supplemented by a fixed cashier unit.

The system analyzes recorded speech and provides several core capabilities, including: 

• Transcribes Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, and mixed-language store speech.
• Checks interactions against predefined company selling steps.
• Generates automated reports on promo offer rates and script compliance.

Image credit: Nimbly AI

📊 Market size

Retail chains are currently shifting focus from store expansion to same-store sales growth. Modern speech AI can now reliably process noisy, mixed-language environments affordably.

Ten of Indonesia’s largest retail groups operate over 50,000 outlets combined. Pricing the software at US$100 per outlet per month makes these top ten chains a US$60 million annual opportunity.

🤝 Team

Daniel Hazman. Founder and CEO. He has over 20 years of experience in retail and tech startups, holding prior roles at Walmart and General Mills.

🚀 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks