Merchandising & Store Ops Thursday, October 15, 2026

Shelf-sensing shifts to hybrid fixed-camera and robot architectures

Retailers are adopting hybrid shelf-sensing systems that combine fixed cameras with mobile robots to detect out-of-stocks more frequently than legacy methods.

The numbers

54.0% Autonomous scanning robots hold 54.0% share in 2026.
33% Only 33% of US supply-chain managers obtained accurate real-time inventory data.
32% 32% of surveyed retailers were applying AI to product-availability monitoring.
56.0% RaaS - subscription leads the market at 56.0% share by business model.
46.0% Grocery chains lead the end-user category with 46.0% share in 2026.

Sources

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