Merchandising automation: saving time and money

In retail, success largely depends on how products are displayed on the shelves. Thoughtful arrangements catch customers’ attention, help them find what they need, and encourage additional purchases. However, with ever-changing customer needs and intense competition, maintaining the perfect display manually has become increasingly challenging. This is where merchandising automation comes to the rescue.

Automating product displays reduces labour costs, minimises errors, and enables stores to adapt more quickly to market changes and customer expectations. Such systems analyse sales data, monitor inventory, and provide recommendations for improving displays. This frees employees from routine tasks, allowing them to focus on customer service. As a result, retailers not only save time and money but also create a convenient and enjoyable shopping environment for customers.

Amid growing competition, merchandising automation has become a vital tool for efficiently managing retail space and resources. It streamlines the display organisation process, ensuring accuracy, relevance, and consistency in planograms tailored to customer behaviour.

Merchandising involves numerous repetitive tasks, such as updating planograms, restocking shelves, and analysing sales. Automation reduces the routine workload on staff, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks. For instance, planogram management systems simplify updates and adjustments to displays in line with new standards or promotions. This saves time and ensures consistency across the retail network.

Mistakes in merchandising, such as incorrect product placement or failure to meet brand standards, can negatively impact sales. Automated systems eliminate risks associated with human error and ensure compliance with display guidelines. This reduces the likelihood of mistakes and improves service quality.

For retail chains with multiple stores, maintaining standardised displays and consistent monitoring is a challenging task. Automation ensures uniform standards across all stores, regardless of their location. Managers gain real-time access to data, enabling them to monitor display standards and maintain a cohesive network style.

Merchandising automation reduces the need for manual inspections and frequent audits. Specialised software solutions allow remote management of displays, adapting them to current trends and customer demands. This streamlines the process, making it more efficient and delivering significant financial benefits.

With the growth of technological capabilities, retailers now have access to a range of tools that help automate and optimise merchandising. These solutions enable efficient product display management, sales data analysis, inventory control, and store adaptation to evolving customer needs. Let’s explore the key tools available on the market today and how they contribute to improving merchandising efficiency.

Greenshelf and similar programs automate the creation of planograms and the management of product displays. These solutions enable retailers to design optimal product placement schemes tailored to specific store parameters, analyse zone traffic, and adjust planograms to boost sales. Key features include:

• real-time creation and editing of planograms;
• monitoring planogram compliance across multiple stores;
• analysing display effectiveness based on sales data and customer preferences.

Greenshelf simplifies display management, ensures standardisation, and makes the process more flexible, allowing stores to adapt quickly to changes in demand and customer needs.

These tools play a crucial role in analysing sales performance and customer preferences. They automatically gather and visualise data on customer activity, enabling retailers to identify which products sell the fastest and which may need additional promotion or a change in placement. Features of such programs include:

• automatic generation of reports and dashboards;
• sales analysis by category, brand, or individual store;
• identifying trends and providing recommendations for optimising displays.

This data helps retailers make more informed decisions and adjust sales strategies promptly.

Modern CRM systems integrate with merchandising processes, enabling retailers to consider customer preference data when planning product displays. CRM systems allow the analysis of purchase history, customer profiles, and the creation of personalised offers. Integration with merchandising enables retailers to:

• fine-tune product displays based on target groups;
• offer promotions and discounts tailored to customer interests;
• enhance the customer experience through personalised recommendations.

As a result, CRM systems not only facilitate customer relationship management but also ensure more efficient use of retail space.

Cloud-based solutions provide centralised access to data and control over merchandising across an entire retail network. These systems enable managers to easily update planograms, upload sales reports, and make adjustments without leaving the office. Key advantages of cloud systems include:

• real-time access to display data from any location;
• scalability and quick updates across all stores in the network;
• integration with other systems for seamless data exchange between departments and branches.

By leveraging cloud technologies, retailers can efficiently manage product displays and maintain consistent standards across all locations.

Mobile apps and tablet-based solutions assist merchandising staff by providing real-time access to instructions, updated planograms, and reporting tools. These applications enable:

• streamlining communication between the central office and store employees;
• giving staff up-to-date information on products and display standards;
• quickly receiving feedback and photo reports on shelf conditions.

These tools make merchandising processes faster and more accurate, reducing the likelihood of errors.

Shelf sensors and IoT devices enable real-time monitoring of product levels and automatically send notifications when restocking is required. These systems help maintain optimal inventory levels and prevent situations where products are out of stock. Key features of inventory tracking systems include:

• automatic alerts for low stock levels;
• real-time monitoring of product turnover;
• reducing instances of overstocked or empty shelves.

The use of sensors not only ensures efficient inventory control but also reduces the labour required for manual stock tracking.

With the growth of technological capabilities, retailers now have access to a range of tools that help automate and optimise merchandising. These solutions enable efficient product display management, sales data analysis, inventory control, and store adaptation to evolving customer needs. Let’s explore the key tools available on the market today and how they contribute to improving merchandising efficiency.

Merchandising automation enables retailers to reduce operational costs and accelerate processes that previously required significant time. Let’s explore the key areas of savings.

• Accelerating the creation and implementation of planograms. Previously, creating planograms for stores required multiple specialists, coordination with the central office, and significant time for implementing new layouts. Now, software platforms like Greenshelf fully automate the development of planograms, taking into account the specifics of each retail location. This accelerates the rollout of new layouts across the entire network. Planograms can be updated instantly, and store employees simply need to open an app and follow the instructions—eliminating the need for additional training or on-site visits from specialists.

• Optimising labour and audit costs. Manually maintaining unified product display standards, checking compliance, and conducting regular audits is a labour-intensive process. Automation eliminates the need for constant inspections, as specialised tools enable remote monitoring of standards. For instance, display monitoring and inventory control systems help reduce audit costs and free staff from routine checks. Additionally, data on planogram compliance collected through automated systems allows for the quick identification and correction of discrepancies.

• Automating inventory and assortment management. Effective stock management requires consideration of seasonal fluctuations, customer preferences, and economic trends. AI-powered systems and forecasting algorithms minimise the risk of "empty shelves" or overstocking, enabling more flexible inventory control. Instead of calculating stock levels manually, retailers can rely on algorithms to automatically determine optimal volumes. This prevents losses from delayed restocking, improves the customer experience, and reduces storage costs.

• Calculating savings from automated solutions. Implementing automation tools can significantly reduce operational expenses. For example, if retailers previously spent several hours per week on manual audits and checks for each store, automation can cut these labour costs by 70-80%. The saved resources can be redirected toward expanding the assortment, enhancing marketing efforts, or improving customer service—creating an additional competitive advantage.

Merchandising automation with Greenshelf is becoming a key strategic solution for retailers. It not only reduces operational costs and frees staff from routine tasks but also improves the accuracy of analysis and control over product displays. Greenshelf helps maintain display standards, adapt assortments more quickly to changes, and enhance the customer experience.

Key benefits of implementing Greenshelf:

• Time and labour savings – automation accelerates planogram creation and reduces the need for manual inspections.
• Optimised inventory management – the system maintains appropriate stock levels and prevents product shortages.
• Consistency across the network – centralised management ensures uniformity and quality of displays across stores.
• Increased sales and profitability – thoughtful product displays encourage additional purchases and improve stock turnover.

Tilda Publishing