As a rule of thumb, it’s safe to assume that any solution your company invests in is unlikely to be reconsidered for at least 7 to 10 years, so you should be sure the vendor you select can deliver on their promises over time. With multiple options available, it’s essential to ensure that the technology your organization invests in will provide the most value and long-term benefit.Ĭareful evaluation of space planning technology vendors is critical, considering that the average lifecycle of technology investments is approximately a decade.

The right space planning technology can optimize merchandising, store operations, and replenishment to drive increased sales, product availability, and reduced waste.įortunately, several tools are available to meet these and other crucial space planning needs. When retailers rely on an AI-driven space planning tool to calculate massive datasets, they free their merchandising teams to work on more valuable tasks and ensure brand consistency and customer experience across stores. Smart retailers understand that the value of their merchandising departments lies in their scientific artistry – not their ability to crunch endless strings of numbers. Building a business case is critical to driving a space planning technology investment Considering this, it becomes easy to see that the only way to achieve store-specific space planning is with an automated system that can quickly process vast amounts of data at scale. The benefits of store-specific space planning are considerable – including improved availability, sales, and operational efficiency – but the implications behind implementing such a plan can be daunting.Īpproximately 1 million calculations are required to produce just 3 feet of store-specific planograms, which becomes impossible when extrapolating across the entire chain of retail stores. Ideally, retailers would design planograms to fit each store’s space and local demand. However, planning at the cluster level can lead to several issues, as individual stores have unique demand patterns, footprints, and storage capabilities. While planograms continue to be an essential aspect of retailers’ space strategies, many rely on a cluster-based model that involves sharing a singular, centralized planogram across all the stores within a group based on a defined set of characteristics. Retailers have long relied on planograms to drive sales and positive customer experiences at their stores.

4 foot retail planogram