Harvest Health Foods, a family-owned grocery chain in Michigan, is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize inventory management and online shopping experiences, according to Bill Reiffer, the company’s VP of purchasing.
Prior to becoming an ECRS customer in 2015, Harvest Health Foods employees were pricing each item individually.
“It was our first point of sale,” Reiffer said. “At that point in time, there were those around us who were already on their second point-of-sale system. We were slow to adopt.”
Now led by third-generation family, he said the company is looking to make the best use of the technology available.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve further embraced working with ECRS in just trying to utilize every last tool that we can, and also help out on testing on the beta side. Helping them to perfect [CATAPULT] and grow it and get it to be where it’s helpful and useful for all their customers.”
[RELATED: ECRS’ CATAPULT Retail POS Utilizes AI To Help Independent Grocers Compete]
Reiffer said the company had been using CATAPULT’s Demand Fill system, a forecasting logic that allows accurate computer-assisted ordering to automate the purchase order process. They currently are beta testing the newest version of Demand Fill.
“A couple of years ago, ECRS started to talk about their Demand Fill, which is their AI and machine learning forecasting, predictive module that resides in their Cognition [data warehouse],” he said. “We were really intrigued by it because it uses multiple years of data to really understand the pattern of when things sell and how well they sell based on pricing. 
“They’re even now looking at trying to figure out if there’s any influence of weather [on] how things sell and looking at forecasts.”
Demand Fill 3 utilizes machine learning to analyze sales data, which allows for highly accurate order generation, minimizing out of stocks and overstocking.
Reiffer said the company is testing the system with one of its major suppliers, “and it’s been running really, really well.”
A big advantage to ECRS’ POS solutions suite is that anyone can use it. He noted that with four stores and about 100 employees, Harvest Health Foods employees often have to wear many hats.
“It’s important that these tools don’t take a computer engineering degree to be able to use, and that’s where ECRS has always really excelled … It’s as easy as pretty much a flip of a switch, and you’ve got AI in the background using so much more data than we could ever even dream of nine years ago.”
CATAPULT Webcart offers personalized online shopping
Harvest Health Foods recently launched WebCart, ECRS’ online shopping platform with click-and-collect functionality. This user-friendly system offers several features to enhance the customer experience:
- Top Picks for You – Recommends previously purchased or related items based on past shopping behavior.
- Similar or Related Items – Suggests complementary products when browsing individual items.
- More Items to Consider – Machine learning technology from Cognition recommends items frequently purchased alongside the current item, promoting basket building.
Reiffer said the platform was easy to set up. “It literally took me and a tech about five to eight minutes to turn this on. It runs seamlessly … It’s totally accurate for us.”
Benefits of AI, automation
Reiffer emphasized the positive impact of AI and automation for Harvest Health Foods.
He said the company likes that ECRS’ CATAPULT software is “the full package.”
“ECRS is the one-stop shop. They provide the click and collect, the WebCart, the online purchasing, the back office – it literally runs our business. It allows a small, independent, family-owned natural foods retailer to be able to compete with the likes of big box stores. That just isn’t possible without embracing technology.”
