ECRS® Automated and Practical AI Ordering Delivers Outstanding Results

Boone, NC — December 11, 2025 —            A six-store traditional grocery chain has reported remarkable results after implementing ECRS® CATAPULT Cognition®’s DemandFill® 3.0 AI based ordering into its operations. At its pilot location, the independent grocer saw an 18%+ year-over-year sales increase in Grocery, shattering growth trends of 2-3% at other locations, all while reducing inventory by 15%.

Scaled Operations

Following the initial success, the chain rolled out DemandFill 3.0 to all locations, and experienced a 14%+ reduction in backstock and inventory, paired with a 19%+ boost in sales. Today, DemandFill 3.0 powers store operations at all locations, driving efficiency, profitability, and a better shopping experience for customers.

Practical AI, Hyper-Efficiency

DemandFill 3.0 is an innovative feature of CATAPULT Cognition, a practical AI powered analytics and reporting tool. Using eleven different attributes, including past weather, forecasted weather, demand, and even self-correction, the DemandFill 3.0 AI model automates purchasing, minimizes out-of-stocks, and streamlines inventory management for maximum efficiency.

Unprecedented Solution, Groundbreaking Results

In a separate instance of DemandFill 3.0’s optimizing power, the President of a 4-store natural foods chain described how the tool transformed their operations:

“We started testing with one aisle in our Grocery section and started noticing lower out of stock rates, staff members told us ‘We have more product for this aisle than we used to’ so I said alright let’s just keep running it and we added another aisle, then just ran it through the entire store. Within a couple weeks sales trends just started going up, out of stocks were down and it was probably one month until we just turned it on for the 3 remaining stores. Since the beginning of this year, we have had all stores running it and we have had double-digit sales growth at all stores with one store showing 30-40% growth every month, it’s like something we have never seen before.”

A Mission of Innovation – Seeing is Believing

ECRS has 36 years of time-tested experience and innovation dedicated to serving independent retailers of all sizes. With technologies like DemandFill 3.0, ECRS demonstrates the practical use of advanced AI to address genuine challenges faced by retailers. Pragmatic, applicable, AI innovation with an emphasis on real solutions with tangible results is essential to ECRS’s approach. This commitment keeps ECRS at the vanguard of enabling independent retailers of all sizes to access technology solutions that help them compete and thrive. Connect with us to discover the ways in which ECRS can revolutionize your operations today.

About ECRS

Family-owned since 1989, ECRS is a Certified Evergreen® retail transactions and artificial intelligence solutions provider, offering simple, practical solutions that unify operations and empower independent retailers to thrive. ECRS’ revolutionary CATAPULT® POS platform, powered by Unified Transaction Logic®, is the market’s only truly unified transaction platform that seamlessly connects all retail touchpoints. With CATAPULT, all retail touchpoints—including point of sale, back office, self-checkout, deli scale, fuel pump, pharmacy, inventory, loyalty, eCommerce, and enterprise management—share one single transactional logic. Unifying hardware, software, and services, ECRS offers friction-free, cost-saving solutions that make advanced automation accessible while transforming the consumer experience.