Kmart shoppers have noticed a ‘futuristic’ change being rolled out in stores across Australia.
Customers have been spotting stock-counting robots, called Tory, which is short for ‘inventory’, roaming the Kmart’s aisles.
Torys have been introduced in Kmart stores to count stock so the major retailer has a more accurate idea of product availability.
Customers have been sharing sightings of their local Torys as more robots are being put to work in Kmart locations.
While many find the robots amusing others have voiced their concern they could take away jobs but Kmart claims the opposite is true.
Customers have been spotting robots, called Tory, roaming the Kmart’s aisles which are used to count stock so the major retailer has a more accurate idea of product availability
One shopper, known as Spanian online, shared his interaction with one of the robots after he was amazed to see one cruising around the store.
‘I’m in Kmart full getting chased by the robot…What’s going on?’ he laughed in a TikTok clip.
The perplexed shopper asked a staff member off-camera what the robot was doing to which she informed him it was ‘counting stock’.
‘It goes around checking sizes to see what’s in stock, it goes aisle to aisle,’ the man reiterated.
A Kmart spokesperson revealed to FEMAIL the robot will help ‘more customers get the stock they want’ when they want it.
‘Tory uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to count our apparel stock each day by scanning RFID tags on our products – creating a better experience for our customers by giving up to date product availability,’ they explained.
‘When we have an accurate view of stock, we can help more customers get the products they want, when they want it, whatever channel they are shopping with us.’
They added Tory will typically work overnight and help staff focus on serving customers and help then find the products they are after.
‘For Kmart, this new technology has meant that where we would previously do a stocktake once a year – Tory can do this once a day,’ they said.
Spanian’s clip racked up more than 190,000 views and users were quick to share their thoughts.
‘I bet you they can’t tell you when the next lot of Hot Wheels is due in the shelves,’ one viewer joked.
Customers have been sharing sightings of Torys as more are being put to work in Kmart stores. Many find the robots amusing but others have voiced their concern they could take away jobs
‘At my Kmart you can talk to it and ask it where things are,’ added a second.
Others explained what the robot’s function was further with one saying they will ‘phase out manual scanning/inventory recognition/logging.’
‘Can do much faster and accurate captures off the shelf,’ they added.
‘It’s checking inventory, bro, so they don’t run out of stock,’ another confirmed.
But not everyone was amused and complained the robots could take jobs.
‘That’s a job gone. It’s all fun until these things take jobs over. AI is coming fast,’ one man wrote.
‘Good bye people’s jobs,’ agreed another.
The Kmart spokesperson said Tory will not replace any in-store jobs.
‘It’s actually quite the opposite – we’ve never had more team members, and our 44,000 strong team is only continuing to grow. Tory does not replace any existing jobs, as Tory only has one function – which is the ability to scan our tags and count stock,’ they said.
‘This gives our team members more time to focus on our customers, helping them get the products they want into their hands by having more readily available stock information.’
Videos of the Torys started circulating on social media last year when they were first introduced into stores.
Some of the robots have a sign, explaining its name, job and asking customers not to worry about getting in its way.
‘Don’t mind me I am just counting stock on our shelves. No need to move out of my way I’ll go around you,’ the sign reads.
The robots have been active in select stores, and are ‘waiting in the wings’ at many more.
Some of the robots have a sign, explaining its name, job and asking customers not to worry about getting in its way
‘We have one of these out the back of our store – waiting to be set up,’ one Kmart worker said.
Some staff members were shocked to see the robot in action during the day.
‘Wait yours goes around while customers are in store? We put ours out on close,’ one woman said.
Others revealed they have had issues with their robots.
‘We got one and it died in less than a week,’ one worker said.
‘Ours broke too,’ another laughed.
‘Ours doesn’t work either, no one has talked about it for months now,’ said another.
The RFID technology means Tory can count and map stock that’s not in the right spot on the shelf.
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