The retail industry is entering a transformative era in 2026, where AI-driven shelf planning is no longer a futuristic concept but a practical necessity. Today, nearly 80% of retailers are already using AI solutions across marketing, supply chain operations, and customer service.
The global AI in the retail market is expected to grow 21% year over year, reaching around 40.7 billion dollars by 2030. Here are the top three AI trends set to reshape retail in 2026, and how retailers can prepare using smarter, more intuitive planogram strategies.
1. Predictive merchandising: Ai that knows what shoppers will want next.
Predictive analytics is evolving into a core driver of retail decision-making. By 2026, AI will analyze millions of data points, from past sales to local trends, seasonality, weather forecasts, and even neighborhood demographics to accurately predict demand at a micro level. Imagine a supermarket chain preparing for the summer season. Traditionally, the beverage aisle planogram is updated based on last year’s sales and broad seasonal assumptions.
But with AI-powered predictive merchandising, the process becomes far more precise where it studies historical sales data, local weather forecasts, demographic insights, and social media trends. With these signals, the AI automatically recommends planogram updates to increase shelf space, reduce low-performing SKUs, place top selling brands at eye level, and auto adjust inventory to avoid stockouts and match predicted demand.
2. Automated planograms and smart shelf execution.
Automation is moving to the center of retail operations. AI-powered tools will handle complex merchandising tasks, reduce manual work, and ensure planogram compliance across multiple stores. For instance, a beauty retail chain with 150 stores struggles to keep planograms consistent. Store teams often rearrange products based on available stock, leading to mismatched displays, poor compliance, and missed sales opportunities.
After adopting planograms, it can auto generate shelf space for each store based on product dimensions, store layout, sales velocity, and inventory levels. Also, if a store runs low on a product, the AI re-allocates facings or adjusts spacing dynamically to maintain compliance and aesthetics.
3. Hyper-personalized in-store experience with Ai optimized layouts.
In 2026, personalization will go far beyond digital recommendations. Ai will shape the physical layout of retail stores too. By analyzing movement patterns, dwell time, and shopper missions, ai will guide how products should be arranged to maximize conversion and experience.
For example, a health and wellness retailer may want to improve shopper engagement and increase conversions in its busy urban stores. Instead of relying only on traditional planograms, the retailer deploys an AI-driven behavioral analytics system. The AI begins analyzing how customers move through the store, such as noticing that many shoppers turn left toward the supplement's aisle. It also tracks dwell time near popular categories like protein bars and vitamins. The system identifies different shopper missions from quick morning “grab-and-go” visits to slower weekend browsing. In addition, AI-generated heatmaps reveal cold zones with low visibility that need better merchandising.
With these insights, AI can recommend a new planogram strategy. It may suggest adding a “quick grab” zone near the entrance for morning shoppers. High-interest items like collagen powders and immunity boosters can be moved into hot zones. Budget-friendly products can be grouped into a dedicated “budget picks” section to match shopper missions. Cold zones can be improved with eye-catching displays and cross-merchandised wellness bundles.
Overview of Nexgen POG
Nexgen POG is a robust and user-friendly cloud-based visual merchandising tool. It is designed for quick and efficient planogramming with minimal effort. Planograms in retail can be designed by easily dragging and dropping the products. The multi-device compatibility feature of POG allows you to obtain, share and edit planogram on any device, including your phone. It helps in designing store-specific planograms for increased product visibility and sales.
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