Merchandising & Store OpsTuesday, August 18, 2026
Retail technology investment in 2025 is moving from small-scale pilots to large-scale operational integration, featuring widespread adoption of electronic shelf labels, smart carts, and computer vision for real-time inventory and planogram compliance.
Major retailers are restructuring their in-store healthcare operations, with some exiting clinical care or impairing assets while others expand primary care networks through health-system partnerships.
In 2026, AI is shifting from back-office analytics to customer-facing tools, including voice agents for reservations, dynamic menu boards, and AI-driven kitchen managers coordinating prep sequencing.
Sycamore Partners is in discussions to acquire Walgreens Boots Alliance, with a potential restructuring into three distinct entities.
A 2025 industry report indicates that 69% of restaurant operators who adopted new technology in the last three years achieved meaningful efficiency gains primarily through integrating data across point-of-sale, kitchen display, customer relationship, and scheduling systems.
Topsort introduced a self-service format in May 2026 that integrates in-store digital screens into the same auction-based infrastructure as on-site retail media.
