Retail is at an inflection point. The reign of the “one-size-fits-all” retail strategy is almost over. After decades of top-down merchandising and uniform planning cycles, consumer expectations and data capabilities have outgrown many planning, inventory and allocation models.
For too long, the industry has operated with an approach that relies on generalized data, blanket decisions backed by gut-instinct, cumbersome Excel spreadsheets and blind hope that past mistakes won’t repeat. This model isn’t sustainable in a world of hyper-fragmented consumer choices, volatile demand and expensive misallocation. Retailers are experiencing huge markdowns and wasted inventory, but that’s all changing.
The Broken Centralized Approach
The conventional retail buying cycle is fundamentally broken. Oftentimes, the exact bulky winter coats offered in blizzard-expecting Boston are available in sunny Los Angeles. This is the industry’s most critical blind spot.
Old school reporting tools can show you big picture trends, but they often miss regional patterns. While algorithms and AI models are setting a new standard for data accuracy, the real success in fashion merchandising comes from combining creativity and industry expertise with nuanced AI insights. When retailers understand local markets and customers, they are able to anticipate trends, adjust and connect with shoppers wherever they are. AI enhances this art by analyzing data at scale and providing performance-based recommendations tailored to each SKU, store and channel.
Shifting Away from a One-Size-Fits All Approach with AI Precision at Scale
Artificial intelligence is reshaping retail by enabling a level of precision and personalization that was previously unattainable with purely manual efforts. By analyzing a wide range of real-time internal and external signals from performance metrics and weather, AI is enabling retailers to operate more like thousands of micro-businesses—scaling precision. This level of insight enables retailers to anticipate shifts in customer behavior at a micro level, empowering planners to fine tune their strategies to reflect the specific preferences, behaviors and seasonal trends of local consumers.
By leveraging real-time data and predictive analytics, retailers can shift from broad strategies to highly targeted, demand-driven operations that optimize turnover, minimize markdowns and protect profit margins. This tailored strategy ensures that retailers are responding effectively to specific consumer demand and each market’s unique trends and seasonality with dynamic open-to-buy budgets and agile allocation strategies. Shift from static forecasting models to adaptive approaches that ensure relevance—the future of retail inventory management lies in precision mixed with human instinct.
The Art and Science: Turning AI Insight into Localized Assortment
As retailers plan for 2026, the focus isn’t simply on managing inventory through a more targeted and accurate assortment—the technology exists to provide the precision needed to match products to demand at the store level. The impact is measurable.
Real success isn’t about replacing the human planner’s creative instinct, because it’s that intangible that creates success, creativity and an exciting shopping experience. Better results come from enhancing that expertise with data. AI manages the complexity, giving planners and regional managers prescriptive, actionable insights. The data tells them what they should do next. Merchandisers, the experts who hold the brand’s DNA and deeply understand their community, apply their intuition to fine-tune assortments, ensuring they connect not just with a data profile, but with the specific needs of the local shopper.
Embracing the Data-Focused Future
As 2025 comes to a close, there’s a unique opportunity to move from a generic, centralized strategy to an efficient, demand-driven and data-focused way of working. This new strategy thrives by managing complexity at scale, seamlessly combining algorithmic speed with the nuanced interpretation of human planners.
Retailers need to stop viewing technology as a niche project for the IT team. It is now the essential tool for operational efficiency and survival in a volatile market. The future belongs to those who embrace the market’s complexity and manage their entire enterprise as a finely tuned network of thousands of responsive, demand-centric micro-businesses. It’s time to invest in the next generation of AI planning tools. That’s how we ensure every decision is made intelligently and profitably.
Find the full article in Fashion Mannuscript here: https://issuu.com/mannpublicationsmagazines/docs/fm_november_december_full/77
Talk to the team to find out how you can join the end of “one-size-fits-all” retail at info@7thonline.com or book a demo.
