How this research was conducted

The associate survey

Sapio Research surveyed 2,200 store associates for Scandit in September 2026 via an online survey. All of them work in physical stores for retailers with more than 1,000 employees, across seven markets ( US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland) and six sectors: grocery supermarkets, grocery hypermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, drugstores, and DIY. The US accounts for 800 responses and Germany for 400; the other five markets contribute 200 each.

• Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding or because respondents could select more than one answer.
• Hour and frequency figures are means from banded answers and are associates' own estimates, not observed time.
• Open-text answers were translated where needed, lightly corrected for spelling and attributed by market and sector only.
• Answers to the final open question were coded into themes by Scandit across all 2,200 respondents, with independent checks.
• Cost figures combine three things from the associates survey results: the hours they say they would get back each week if stock information were always accurate (a survey average of 4.4 hours), their average hourly pay by market, and a working year based on typical weeks worked by market.
• Conversions use ECB rates from September 2026. The figures are estimates of paid time spent compensating for inaccurate data, not audited losses or a savings target.

The retail leader pulse

Scandit also ran a short pulse survey of retail leaders in September and October 2026. Their views appear as quotes only, anonymized and attributed by role and sector.

What Scandit has seen on the shelf

Where the report refers to what Scandit has seen in the store, the source is Scandit’s own shelf intelligence pilots and deployments with retailers, in which shelves are captured and analyzed and the results compared with the retailer’s inventory record. These observations are anonymized: no retailer, store or market is named, and figures are rounded. They are not survey findings, and they are not comparable with the survey’s accuracy measure, which describes what associates experience at the point of lookup rather than on-shelf availability.

Expert contributors

The independent experts quoted in this report contributed their views in October and November 2026. Their comments are their own and do not represent the views of Scandit or Sapio Research. Quotes have been lightly edited for length and clarity and approved by each contributor.

Andrew Smith, Managing Partner and co-founder, ThinkUncommon

Andrew Smith started on the shop floor and spent the first part of his career in retail operations, including leading retail operations and flagship store innovation at Australia’s largest telco. He is now co-founder of Think Uncommon, where he helps retailers close the gap between the technology they bought and the results they were promised.

In his experience, that gap is rarely about the technology. It’s usually about whether the organisation is clear on why it’s doing something, whether its people are ready to deliver and embed it, and whether its processes can turn a good pilot into something that lasts. Andrew is co-author of Retail Innovation Reframed and has been a RETHINK Retail Top Expert since 2021. He still thinks the most useful questions in innovation are the ones asked of store teams.

Anne Mezzenga, CEO and Founder, Retail Field Report

Anne Mezzenga is the founder of Retail Field Report, where she finds out what’s really happening in retail by working shifts in stores and walking stores with the executives who run them. From the stockroom to the boardroom, she reports on how retail strategy actually plays out on the floor.

An NRF Top Retail Voice, Anne serves on the boards of Simbe, Firework, Buncha, Broadhead, Scrollmark, and Delivery Solutions (acquired by UPS). She previously co-founded and served as Co-CEO of Omni Talk Retail, building it into one of the fastest-growing media publications in the industry.

Before Omni Talk, Anne was an executive at Target, where she led the Store of the Future project. Her career spans retail, advertising (Martin Williams, Fallon), and broadcast journalism (NBC Universal and Minneapolis FOX affiliate KMSP), and she also owned and operated three boutique fitness studios in the Twin Cities. She is a journalism graduate of the University of Minnesota.

Greg Buzek, President, IHL Group

Greg Buzek is the Founder, President and Principal Analyst of IHL Group and one of the Founders of the Retail Orphan Initiative (www.retailROI.org), a charitable foundation that seeks to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children around the world.

Noted by RIS News as one of the Top 10 Influentials in Retail and the National Retail Federation as one of “The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future“, he has a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from The Ohio State University, and 30 years of experience in retail market analysis, business planning, product development, and consulting with Fortune 500 companies. He is also a member of the Top 100 Retail Influencers from ReTHINK Retail for 2024-2027 and 2026 Top AI Influencer.

Greg is frequently quoted in BusinessWeek, CIO Information Network, Information Week, Supermarket News, Chain Store Age, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine, and the Washington Post, and has been used as a retail technology analyst on NBC Nightly News, CBS News, and CNBC. In addition, Greg has been a guest lecturer for the Wharton School of Business and Belmont University.

Sebastian Rennack, Independent Retail Analyst & Consultant

Sebastian Rennack is an independent retail analyst and consultant focusing on grocery retail in Central and Southeastern Europe. Drawing on his operational experience with the international sales teams of Schwarz Group and Metro Group, and his background as an analyst and international correspondent for Germany's Lebensmittel Zeitung, he connects strategic developments with operational realities on the shop floor.

He has published more than 700 analyses and data-driven articles in leading retail trade publications across the region and is a regular keynote speaker at industry conferences. He has received the global RETHINK Retail Top Analyst Award for four consecutive years.

Natalie Berg, Retail Analyst and Host, Retail Disrupted

Natalie Berg is a leading retail analyst and founder of NBK Retail, a consultancy that helps businesses navigate the rapidly evolving world of commerce. A recognized authority on global retail trends, Natalie is also the host of Retail Disrupted® - an award-winning podcast featuring weekly conversations with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail.

A trusted media commentator, Natalie appears regularly on TV and radio. Her expert analysis has been featured in the Financial Times, BBC, The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Forbes.

She is the co-author of two acclaimed industry books, including Amazon: How the World’s Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce, which has been translated into 19 languages.

A frequent keynote speaker at major retail events worldwide, Natalie also serves as an elected member of the KPMG Retail Think Tank, where she provides quarterly insights on the health and dynamics of the UK retail sector.