Aussie retail drone headed off shore amid limited interest from local businesses

An Australian designed drone created to save retail stores money is being shipped off to Britain as supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths fail to adapt the technology.

A local arm of the Technology group Lakeba claims its new product, shelfie, can save supermarkets 300,000 Australian dollars (225,000 U.S. dollars) per year with its robot drone technology, but this did not stop the two biggest supermarket chains passing on the local product.

"It's more of a challenge in Australia. The appetite for piloting something new and getting involved isn't the same... it's mainly driven by the lack of competition and the lack of need they feel to move forward quickly," Shelfie Division chief executive officer, Darren Younger told the Australian Financial Review.

"In my experience it's mainly being held up at the board level. Boards are focused on risk and they have a lot less appetite for it. There is a big opportunity for Shelfie internationally, but it's a shame there haven't been more chances so far in Australia. We had to go overseas with it to start with in order to be successful."

To combat stocking mistakes in retail stores, the shelfie drone uses data analytics, image capture technology and the cloud to give store management immediate information about inventory, sales trends and the ability to optimize store layout.

"Organizations have to realize that they can't just sit back and watch what happens," Younger said. Endit