Market Snapshot
Modern Merchandising Operations in Action
Q1, 2026
Retailers are losing more than 5% of operating margin to in-store inefficiencies, yet the root cause runs deeper than execution gaps. When merchandising data lives across disconnected planning, execution, and finance systems, teams spend the majority of their time reconciling discrepancies rather than making decisions. Merchants estimate that roughly one-third of the data they rely on is inaccurate or contains errors. The result: prices set without knowing true landed cost, stockouts despite online availability, and item setups that take weeks instead of days.
This report examines how leading retailers are closing that gap through three foundational capabilities: a unified system of record, structured process workflows, and real-time margin control. Drawing on research conducted in partnership with Blue Yonder and Accenture, it identifies the operational and organizational changes that separate retailers who react to margin problems after the fact from those who prevent them — and where mid-market retailers can capture enterprise-grade advantage without enterprise-scale investment.
FOUR KEY B2C COMMERCE IMPERATIVES
Incisiv
Here’s a preview of the report. The full report is available for free download via the form below.
As consumers continue to reshape their expectations,
enterprises must contend with a uniquely challenging landscape.
The consumer technology landscape is forever changing.
From Pinterest to TikTok, WeChat to Instagram, new experiences can rapidly gain consumer adoption and relevance.
From augmented reality to voice, smartwatches to chatbots, consumers are constantly embracing new interaction paradigms.
Commoditized convenience is eroding loyalty and margin.
Consumers expect convenience. If you can't deliver it, they'll go elsewhere - e.g. next day shipping becoming the new standard.
Walmart will reportedly lose USD 1 billion on eCommerce revenue of USD 21 billion this year as it faces challenges in its bid to complete against Amazon – from trouble integrating its DNVB acquisitions to impact on margin from its next-day delivery operations.
Consumers value experiences that are curated to fit their lives better.
They want to engage, be served, and transact at their time, their pace, their place. They have little patience, infinite choice and the freedom to swipe left at the slightest hint of friction.
