Six new capabilities help store associates answer, decide, and resolve more on the spot, inside the frontline communication app their teams already use.
AUSTIN, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 31, 2026 / Retailers have spent a decade making their stores smarter. Today, Zello announced six new capabilities designed to make store associates more capable: helping them answer questions, make decisions, and resolve issues in the moment, without leaving the communication app their teams already use.
The store of the future already has connected shelves, automated checkout, sensor-equipped back rooms, and inventory systems that know more about the building than the people in it. But the associate still carries the gaps between those systems. When a customer asks a question or something goes wrong, the best answer is still too often, “Let me go find someone.”
Zello’s new capabilities are designed around the associate rather than the building. Each begins where frontline work already happens: the push-to-talk button.
“Everybody has a picture of the store of the future. Almost nobody has pictured the associate who will run it,” said Alex Gavrilov, founder and CEO of Zello. “Retail work never stops, but most technology built for it asks associates to stop anyway. Stop to type. Stop to search. Stop to find a manager. Zello works without pulling them away from the job. Press the push-to-talk button, say what you need, and keep moving while Zello turns it into action.”
What Associates Can Do Now
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Live Calling: Start a voice or video call inside Zello. An associate can show a damaged pallet or broken fixture instead of describing it, so the person who can authorize the fix sees the problem and decides now.
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Voice Commands: Operate Zello without handling the device. That matters when an associate has a cart in one hand and a customer in front of them.
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Task Management: Turn a request such as “restock aisle 14” from a voice message into a tracked task that an associate can claim and the team can see through completion.
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QR Assist: Place a scannable code at curbside pickup, a fitting room, or a service counter. Customers reach the right associate in seconds, with nothing to download and nobody to flag down.
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Smart Search: Ask questions about the operation in plain language, such as “Did the closing shift flag any issues?” Get a clear answer grounded in frontline communications, with references to the original conversations.
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Ella: Reach connected business systems through voice. Associates can look up inventory, create tasks, dispatch help, and take action without stepping away from the customer or the work. Ella makes voice the interface to the connected store.
“For the associate of the future, technology disappears into the work. They can answer the customer, get the right help, and finish the job without leaving the moment,” said Gavrilov. “Retailers have spent years removing friction for the shopper. We are removing it for the person serving them. With Zello, the mobile device an associate already carries becomes the fastest way to get work done.”
About Zello
Zello is frontline operations software built on voice. Zello connects frontline workers on the devices they already carry and turns what they say, see, and scan into tracked work, searchable records, and completed follow-up. Zello serves teams in retail, manufacturing, transportation, construction, aviation, and hospitality, and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Zello is recognized as one of the most reliable communication tools for mobile workers by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CBS, CNBC, USA Today, and TechCrunch. Visit zello.com for more information.
For press inquiries, contact pr@zello.com.
SOURCE: Zello
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