The Grocer Gold Awards 2025: Shelf-edge AI at Morrisons wins Technology Initiative of the Year

Winner: Focal Systems and Morrisons Supermarkets - Project Optic

The first AI deployment of its kind at scale within the UK, Focal Systems installed more than 200,000 tiny, shelf-edge, AI-powered availability cameras into 498 Morrisons supermarkets in just eight months. The cameras monitor on-shelf stock levels, automatically reordering where necessary and alerting colleagues in real time to any gaps, bringing down in-day replenishment times significantly.

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The move has improved customer availability by more than 2ppts across the 498-store estate, and Morrisons has also benefitted from reduced operational tasks while improving both customer and colleague satisfaction, sales performance and reducing waste and shrink. Judges described this as “a mature example of using technology to have a tangible impact on colleague and customer alike” and “a great story for the rollout of AI at scale”.

Shortlisted:

• Deliveroo - The Deliveroo Order Picker
• Focal Systems and Morrisons Supermarkets - Project Optic
• Henderson Technology - EDGEPoS
• Polytag & Interket UK - Barcode-level data to track plastic recycling
• *shopt - *shopt retail app
• VusionGroup - EdgeSense