English
Whale enabled COLMO to implement online store inspections, allowing the brand to inspect thousands of stores per day and significantly reduce labor costs.
COLMO is a high-end AI technology home appliance brand under Midea Group. It has air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, water purifiers, range hoods, gas stoves, water heaters, cooking robots and other home appliances for the whol
-
Efficiency Improvement
Automating processes to reduce costs and boost efficiency
-
Intelligent Operations
More intelligent and standardized store management
-
Data Insights
Data-driven insights to enhance store operations
-
AI Store InspectionAI-powered store inspections address labor consumption, inefficiency, and data inaccuracies caused by human error during audits
-
Data AccumulationIntroducing BPM to form a complete business loop, enabling richer AI inspection scenarios and accumulating more diverse data dimensions
-
Store InsightsLeveraging SpaceSight to build next-generation digitalized offline stores, maximizing store potential through in-depth insights into consumers, products, and operations
The importance of offline store digitalization is widely recognized by retail brands, yet it cannot be achieved overnight. How can brands implement digital transformation in phases according to business needs? As an AI technology home appliance brand under Midea Group, COLMO aims to make store operations more efficient and intelligent—aligning with its premium brand image and supporting business growth.
With numerous offline stores, COLMO faced challenges in its traditional display unit inventory process: staff had to manually compare photos from different stores, resulting in high labor costs and low efficiency. Additionally, reliance on human analysis of large datasets led to data validity issues, calling for more digital solutions.
To address COLMO’s needs, Whale leveraged SpaceSight to drive digital transformation across three key phases:
Phase 1: AI-Powered Inventory for Efficiency and Cost Reduction
- Deploy AI algorithms for rapid implementation
- Automate display unit inventory to replace manual work, ensuring accuracy while cutting costs and improving efficiency
Phase 2: Integrated Inspection with APP + BPM + AI for Richer Scenarios and Data Applications
- Using AI vision recognition, COLMO inspects product displays, merchandising, and material usage across store channels to ensure compliance
- A full suite of digital operation modules supports standardized store management:
- SOP-based remote inspections
- AI auto-inspection
- Task management systems
- Inspection reporting
- Custom data dimensions are established to enrich operational insights
Phase 3: Full Offline Store Digitalization with Deep Data Insights
- Using ReID and face blurring technology, SpaceSight captures precise customer flow and in-store behavior while ensuring privacy compliance
- Store profiling based on abnormal events and inspection results enables clear understanding of store performance
- With sufficient data, managers gain predictive, attribution, and custom alert capabilities—answering the what, why, and how of store operations
Through this three-phase implementation, Whale has helped COLMO:
- Conduct online inspections of thousands of stores daily, significantly reducing labor costs
- Automate inventory and reporting for tens of thousands of stores nationwide — cutting a multi-person, multi-day process to a fraction of the time
- Enable fully automated remote inspections with AI-based anomaly detection
- Systematize and bring transparency to store governance, unifying store image and enhancing brand value
Furthermore, data-driven optimizations have been realized across multiple areas—including display arrangement, site selection, campaign effectiveness, procurement strategy, and store management—truly enabling data-powered store growth.
