Big Lots workers need tech that reduces friction, study finds

The best store technology does one thing first: it gets out of the way. Jumpmind’s June 9 AX Insights study, based on focus groups with store associates, supervisors and managers, said retail tools have to close information gaps, reduce cognitive overload and avoid creating fresh annoyance through clunky AI.

That standard matters at Big Lots, where the sales floor has been through a brutal reset. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 9, 2024, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, with reporting at the time putting the chain at about 1,300 stores and more than 27,000 employees. Big Lots later disclosed that it would begin going-out-of-business sales at all remaining stores on December 19, 2024, before a court-approved sale in January 2025 preserved part of the business under new ownership.

For workers, the tech question is not abstract. A Big Lots associate on a busy shift has to find inventory, answer policy questions, steer shoppers to the right aisle and keep up with changing promotions. If a system gives a clean answer, surfaces stock quickly or shortens the time it takes to solve a customer problem, it can protect service. If it adds extra taps, duplicate data entry or a stream of alerts that still leaves the associate hunting for the real answer, it becomes one more task on an already crowded floor.

That is why the Jumpmind findings land differently in a chain that is still rebuilding. Variety Wholesalers said in April 2025 that it would reopen 219 Big Lots stores, and by June 2025 reporting said all 219 had reopened. Big Lots’ current store locator still lists 219 locations, showing how much of the company now depends on efficient execution inside a smaller footprint.

The numbers also show this is not a small turnaround story. Big Lots reported 1,392 stores as of February 3, 2024, and CNBC reported about $4.7 billion in 2023 revenue when it filed for bankruptcy. Before the collapse, Big Lots was still described as the fourth-largest home goods retailer in the United States. That scale makes store-floor friction more than an annoyance. When a retailer is asking fewer people to do more work, the wrong tool can slow the line, frustrate customers and bury the very employees it was supposed to help.

The real test for any AI or associate app at Big Lots is simple: does it remove steps, sharpen priorities and speed customer help, or does it create another layer of noise between the worker and the shopper?