Jones Retail Group, a multi-store supermarket group and a GaP Solutions customer since 2018, used EM Cloud™ Auto Order and Investment Buy to automate supplier ordering across every store — saving six figures a year with zero added workload for the team.
Some retail technology announces itself at the checkout. The most profitable kind often doesn't — it runs silently in the back office, ordering the right stock at the right time, every day, across every store.
That's the story Michael Tucker, who looks after systems and retail technology at Jones Retail Group, told us at the Metcash Food Expo.
WHAT AUTOMATED ORDERING DELIVERED
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6-figures
Saved in the past year
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~1,000
Extra pallets secured via Investment Buy
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$1,000s
Of ongoing value every week
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Zero
Added workload for the team
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Who Jones Retail Group is
Jones Retail Group runs a portfolio of supermarkets and has been a GaP Solutions customer since 2018. Michael Tucker's background is IT, and he looks after systems and retail technology for the group. Jones uses EM Cloud™, EM Auto Order and Investment Buy, and has grown with the EM platform from EMC through to EM Cloud™ V3.
"We moved over to EM Cloud™ and never looked back."
Michael Tucker, Retail Systems & Technology, Jones Retail Group
What EM Auto Order does
EM Auto Order uses live sales and stock data in EM Cloud™ to generate supplier orders automatically — across the Metcash warehouse, fresh, and direct suppliers alike.
"We use auto ordering as a key technology now. Everything from the Metcash warehouse through to our fresh and direct suppliers. It's critical for us — obviously with wages efficiency, and also just making sure that we have the right stock at the right time."
Michael Tucker, Jones Retail Group
For a single-store retailer, Auto Order removes hours of manual order-writing each week and takes the guesswork out of replenishment — fewer out-of-stocks, less overstock, less shrink on fresh. For a multi-store group like Jones, it standardises buying discipline across every site, so no store's ordering depends on who wrote the order that day, and head office sees it all in one cloud back office.
What Investment Buy adds
Investment Buy takes automated ordering from cost-saver to profit-maker. When a supplier deal, promotion or price rise makes it smarter to buy ahead, the system identifies the opportunity and buys into it — maximising buying power with stock the business will genuinely sell.
"The Investment Buy addition allows us to maximise our buying power — buying the right stock at the right time. That's critical to increasing our profitability without having to pass it on to the customer."
Michael Tucker, Jones Retail Group
To date, Jones Retail Group has ordered around 1,000 pallets of extra stock through the program — margin growth that doesn't come from shelf-price increases.
"It's worth thousands of dollars a week to us."
Michael Tucker, Jones Retail Group
A platform built to integrate
Michael's background is IT, so his endorsement of the platform architecture carries weight:
"A crucial part of EM Cloud™ is the fact that it is a hundred percent cloud-based, and we can access it anywhere. It allows us to bring in other companies' software — or our own — and talk to EM Cloud™."
Michael Tucker, Jones Retail Group
The new V3 modules sharpen that further:
"More data and more insights means better decisions. The new V3 screens are definitely more advanced and easier to use… and there have been massive performance gains as well."
Michael Tucker, Jones Retail Group
Value that compounds
GaP Solutions has spent 18 years evolving the EM platform — and Jones Retail Group has grown with it since 2018, from EMC to EM Cloud™ V3, from POS into auto ordering and Investment Buy. The pattern is the one we hear from our longest-standing customers: each module compounds the value of the last, because everything shares one platform and one data set.
The result today: six figures saved in the past year, thousands of dollars of value every week, and no added workload for the team.
Working in the background,
just making money.
Frequently asked questions
What is EM Auto Order?
EM Auto Order is a module within EM Cloud™ that uses live sales and stock data to generate supplier orders automatically — across the Metcash warehouse, fresh, and direct suppliers. It removes hours of manual order-writing each week and takes the guesswork out of replenishment, which means fewer out-of-stocks, less overstock and less shrink on fresh.
What is Investment Buy, and how is it different from Auto Order?
Auto Order keeps everyday replenishment running automatically. Investment Buy sits on top of it and turns ordering into a profit lever: when a supplier deal, promotion or price rise makes it smarter to buy ahead, the system identifies the opportunity and buys into it — maximising buying power with stock the business will genuinely sell. Jones Retail Group has secured around 1,000 pallets of extra stock this way.
How much did Jones Retail Group save?
Six figures in the past year, with thousands of dollars of ongoing value every week from Investment Buy — and no added workload for the team. These are the customer's own reported results; outcomes vary by store count, trading pattern and how the platform is configured.
Does automated ordering work for a single store, or only for multi-store groups?
Both. For a single store, Auto Order removes hours of manual order-writing each week and steadies replenishment. For a multi-store group like Jones, it also standardises buying discipline across every site — no store's ordering depends on who wrote the order that day — and head office sees it all in one cloud back office.
Will it integrate with the systems we already run?
EM Cloud™ is a hundred percent cloud-based and built to integrate. As Jones' Michael Tucker puts it, it lets you bring in other companies' software — or your own — and talk to EM Cloud™. It connects across payments, scales, accounting, loyalty and 100+ retail partners.
Aug 26, 2026, 7:31:25 PM