5 Key Trends in Merchandising Software in 2025

Success in today’s retail industry hinges on adapting swiftly and executing strategies precisely. Merchandising software reshapes the landscape by eliminating outdated guesswork and enabling data-driven, intelligent decision-making that optimizes every square foot of retail space. Modern merchandising combines analytics, automation, and collaboration tools, allowing retailers to plan product placements strategically, adapt to market changes, and enhance customer experiences across channels. This retail technology evolution enables businesses to maximize sales and efficiency, keeping them competitive in a dynamic marketplace. Let’s explore the biggest trends in merchandising software transforming retail today:

Key Takeaways

• AI and predictive analytics enable smarter, faster product placement decisions.
• Cloud platforms allow instant planogram updates across locations.
• Automated planogram generation reduces labor and boosts scalability.
• 3D and AR tools improve layout accuracy and customer experience.
• Omnichannel integration ensures consistency across online and offline platforms.

Top 5 Trends in Merchandising Solutions

As retailers strive to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market, merchandising solutions are becoming smarter, faster, and more strategic. From AI-powered insights to automation and beyond, here are the top five trends shaping the future of merchandising - and how they’re transforming retail operations.

1. AI and Predictive Analytics Integration

A transformative trend in merchandising is integrating AI and predictive analytics. These technologies enable retailers to identify patterns, forecast demand, and recommend optimal product placements based on historical data and consumer behavior. According to McKinsey, the use of AI tools in retail has grown by 25% annually since 2020, showing no signs of deceleration.

AI models continuously learn and adapt, providing increasingly accurate insights over time. For example, if certain products tend to perform well together or during specific times of the year, AI can automatically suggest their placement next to one another on the shelf or in high-traffic areas. Predictive analytics also help anticipate market shifts, seasonal demand changes, and evolving customer preferences - enabling proactive merchandising strategies rather than reactive fixes.

Software such as LEAFIO.AI employs AI image recognition for planogram compliance tools. Employees can capture an image of the actual shelf, and the software compares it to the planogram, suggesting edits or approving the layout. This functionality automates planogram compliance checks, reducing human error and ensuring consistent, efficient execution across all store locations.

This trend enables retailers to make smarter, data-driven decisions quickly and accurately. By adopting AI and predictive tools, businesses can improve product visibility, reduce guesswork, and boost sales. With rising competition and customer expectations, retailers not using these intelligent systems risk falling behind agile, tech-savvy competitors.

2. Cloud-Based Collaboration and Accessibility

Cloud-based merchandising software has become a game-changer for retail operations, offering real-time collaboration, centralized data access, and seamless planogram updates across multiple locations. This trend is especially valuable for medium to large retailers who need to ensure consistent execution of merchandising strategies across geographically dispersed stores.

With cloud-based platforms, merchandising teams can design and update planograms from anywhere, instantly pushing changes to in-store teams. Store managers receive live updates and can access the most current layouts through mobile devices or tablets - eliminating confusion and reducing costly errors from outdated paper plans.

Moreover, cloud infrastructure allows for smoother integration with other enterprise systems, including inventory management, POS systems, and supplier networks. It also enhances scalability, enabling businesses to add new users or locations without major system overhauls.

The business value includes greater consistency, faster execution, and improved efficiency. Retailers can act quickly, minimize miscommunications, and adapt to real-time data or market shifts. Cloud-based software offers a strategic advantage in a fast-paced retail landscape.

3. Automation of Planogram Generation

Automation reshapes merchandising by dramatically reducing the time and labor involved in creating and updating planograms. Instead of manual layout design, modern software uses automation to generate shelf plans based on predefined rules, sales data, and product hierarchies. This accelerates the planning process and enhances accuracy and consistency across locations.

Retailers can establish specific rules for item placement, like prioritizing high-margin products at eye level, while software generates layouts accordingly. Some platforms also allow users to adjust certain blocks manually, with the rest filled automatically. The main advantage is scalability. As product assortments increase and store formats change, automation helps merchandising keep pace without needing more staff. It lowers operational costs, speeds up planogram creation, and allows staff to focus on strategic tasks like innovation or customer engagement.  

Automated planogram generation is becoming essential for retailers aiming to boost agility and efficiency - especially with frequent product turnover or seasonal changes.

4. Enhanced Visual Merchandising Tools and 3D Store Planning

Another standout trend is the rise of enhanced visual merchandising tools, including 3D store planning and interactive planogram modeling. These features allow merchandising teams to visualize shelf layouts in a realistic, immersive environment, providing better insight into how products will appear in-store.

3D visualization lets teams simulate customer views, assess product visibility, and test layouts before implementation. It identifies issues like overcrowding and poor placement that are not visible in 2D layouts. These tools are vital for store redesigns, new product launches, and promotional planning, where presentation matters. Interactive features, such as drag-and-drop interfaces and real-time previews, help corporate teams and in-store staff execute merchandising strategies. Some solutions introduce AR, allowing associates to overlay planograms onto shelves using mobile devices for easy compliance checks.

The result is more precise execution, improved customer experiences, and increased sales conversion rates - especially in highly competitive, visually driven retail environments like fashion, cosmetics, or electronics.

5. Integration with Omnichannel and E-Commerce Platforms

In an age where consumers move seamlessly between physical stores and digital platforms, merchandising software increasingly integrates with omnichannel systems and e-commerce tools. This trend ensures that product placement, inventory availability, and promotional strategies are aligned across all touchpoints - online and offline.

Integrated systems utilize the same data sets for digital planograms, online shelf simulations, and in-store layouts, ensuring brand consistency and smarter inventory decisions. If a product is out of stock in-store but available online, the system can adjust the shelf layout and prompt digital signage or staff to promote the online channel.  This convergence enables real-time inventory synchronization, unified customer experiences, and enhanced demand forecasting. Retailers can run coordinated campaigns, track channel performance, and update merchandising strategies based on consumer behavior.

The impact is significant: increased sales, reduced friction in the customer journey, and agile merchandising that reflects today’s blended shopping reality. This integration is foundational in a post-pandemic world where digital and physical retail are intertwined.

Conclusion

The key takeaway is simple: modern merchandising is no longer about guesswork but intelligent, integrated, and agile execution. As retail grows more complex and competitive, embracing trends like AI, automation, cloud collaboration, and omnichannel integration isn’t just forward-thinking - it’s foundational. Merchandising software that evolves with these trends empowers retailers to make smarter decisions, respond faster to market shifts, and deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences across every channel.

FAQ's: Merchandising Software in 2025

Q: What is merchandising software used for?

A: Merchandising software helps retailers plan and manage product placement, store layouts, inventory visibility, and promotions across physical and digital channels.

Q: How does AI improve merchandising?

A: AI uses consumer behavior and sales data to suggest optimal product placements, forecast demand, automate planogram design, and reduce errors.

Q: Why is cloud-based merchandising important?

A: Cloud platforms offer real-time collaboration, centralized access, and instant updates - ensuring consistency and faster response across store locations.

Q: What is a planogram?

A: A planogram is a visual representation of a store's products on shelves, used to maximize visibility, drive sales, and maintain consistency.

Q: Can merchandising software integrate with online stores?

A: Yes, modern merchandising solutions integrate with e-commerce platforms to align inventory, promotions, and product displays across all channels.