AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pensa Systems, the industry’s first scalable Vision AI solution for shelf planning and in-store execution, today announces Pensa Actions AI, a retail AI agent and an expansion of its AI platform. Pensa Actions AI automates walking a retail store with the eye of experienced store personnel to assess what matters most right then and guide the work to get it done.
Pensa Actions AI is designed to be used by manufacturer brand representatives, retailers or third-party workforces who regularly visit stores for merchandising, inventory setup or auditing. Seeing through the lens of a camera, typically a mobile phone or other handheld device already in a worker’s hands, Pensa Actions AI takes in the store scene and eliminates much of the tedious and error prone manual activities performed today. It integrates into the existing process for frontline workers, either as a standalone mobile application or appearing as a simple task within workforce management software directing their activities.
Walking the floor and assessing aisles is work that’s gone on the same way for decades; done many times a day by store and department managers then again by individual store associates and third-party manufacturer reps and their agencies. There is generally high turnover of such personnel and a tribal passing on of knowledge about how to assess and best deal with issues. Given the 25,000-50,000 items in a typical retail store and up to 150,000 varied retail locations, it is difficult to audit and determine highest value actions to take. Today, this process involves item-by-item bar code scanning of individual product items and price tags, plus manually correlating what is seen with inventory databases, shipment data, and price files. Earlier generations of retail AI have not removed that burden: they carry a use tax of photo-by-photo capture, image stitching and catalog upkeep that can cost more time than the AI saves.
Pensa Actions AI visually inspects individual aisles and promotional displays to assess the most important actions to take, including re-stocking out-of-stock items, ensuring shelf tags, merchandising signage and promotional displays are set up properly and other activities needed to optimize store and channel readiness. It largely replaces the need to barcode scan item-by-item and tag-by-tag, and automatically prioritizes the highest value actions to take, offering a “turn by turn” aisle guidance, similar to navigation in a car, for the most important sequence of actions to be taken, along with the reason behind each suggestion.
The AI is designed to learn and adjust to individual users and their preferences, adding more upfront support for new users while fading into the background for old hands, providing further assistance only when asked. When available, its AI memory mode can take into account retail context such as sales, inventory levels, supply chain, and promotional calendars and trade commitments to determine which activities to do and in what order. Its recommendations increase productivity and give newer workers the benefit of the tricks of the trade from the most experienced workers. The application itself can adapt to nearly any model of Apple iPhone or Android device, including specialized Zebra-type barcode scanners. For newer models of mobile devices, the AI is designed to operate on-device in a zero or low connectivity store environment, otherwise working on- and off-line to maximize compatibility across several hundred device models for maximum workforce flexibility.
Early use of the capabilities behind Pensa Actions AI has been successful in automating up to 70% of tedious, manual retail execution work. Its ability to prioritize the right action at the right time has driven up to a 30% improvement in item distribution, a 20% decrease in stockouts, and a 90% reduction in shelf voids. “This area of AI is often referred to as Physical AI, that is, applying AI in a physical location such as at retail. By coupling AI with the eyes of a camera, AI can assess and direct the biggest bang-for-the-buck activities.” says Richard Schwartz, President and CEO of Pensa Systems. “Extending our cognitive platform to See and Interpret and now Act is a major next step in the evolution of AI.
“In our business, having the right products available at the right time is everything. AI capabilities like Pensa’s Actions AI have the potential to turn real-time insights into smarter replenishment, better merchandising, and more efficient service.” Says Tom Kuharcik, Chief Operating Officer, Five Star Breaktime Solutions.
“Pensa’s Actions AI has the potential to help retail and field teams spend less time identifying problems and more time fixing them—restocking missing products, correcting shelf issues, and improving execution to drive sales and reduce lost revenue.” Says Raul Garcia, Founder & CEO, Oita AI and former CPG industry executive.
Pensa Actions AI is available now for licensed subscribers and will continue to expand in capability on an ongoing basis, combining with the rest of the Pensa portfolio to give retailers, CPG brands, and their partners a consistent view of merchandising and operations across the entire supply relationship. Pensa integrates with major enterprise data and workforce platforms.
About Pensa SystemsPensa is a leading innovator for AI transformation at retail. It is the industry’s first scalable Vision AI solution to increase efficiency and maximize effectiveness across the retail supply chain. With its broad AI product portfolio for HQ planning and in-store execution, Pensa partners with CPG brands, agencies and retailers around the world. Pensa’s platform covers all retail store formats, product categories, and supply chain environments and continues to expand what retail AI can deliver. Visit pensasystems.com to learn more.
