AI-powered retail operations platform, Retail Insight, has unveiled new predictive AI capabilities within its WasteInsight platform, which enable retailers to support ESG efforts by reducing food waste while improving profitability on near-expiry goods.

Designed to improve sell-through and sustainability, the new Predictive Waste feature proactively manages waste risk in-store.

Using forward looking data, including delivery schedules, item perishability and store-level demand, the solution flags “at-risk” stock. Leveraging these signals to identify items that risk not selling through in time, it prompts retailers to intervene with discounts days earlier than traditional waste management processes, cutting waste while maximising margin.

With the cost of food waste estimated to cost retailers over £400billion ($540 billion) a year, waste reduction remains a key focus for retailers, impacting their ESG efforts and the bottom line.

The predictive capabilities within the WasteInsight platform allow retailers to move away from fixed markdown schedules, which apply static price reductions regardless of trading conditions, sales history or other demand patterns. This not only risks lost margin, but also requires store staff to manually apply discounts, a time intensive and manual process.

“Our Predictive Waste solution helps retailers address their waste and sell-through challenges earlier in the process when the margin impact is larger,” said Alex Considine Tong, Chief Product Officer at Retail Insight.

“Instead of treating markdowns as an isolated event, sell-through signals can feed back into buying decisions, so teams can see where they have been consistently over ordering,” she added. “Retailers can pull back before the problem repeats and see real shifts in margin and sustainability.”

With Predictive Waste, store staff receive predictive markdown prompts up to a week before expiration, meaning retailers can catch sell-through risk earlier and avoid overly aggressive, last-minute discounting.

The Predictive Waste feature builds on WasteInsight’s dynamic markdown capabilities, which already help retailers including Central Co-op and Lincolnshire Co-op optimise their target margin and waste balance.