Merchandising & Store OpsWednesday, October 28, 2026
Wakefern Food Corp. and Debenhams Group have deployed agentic AI tools to automate forecasting, vendor selection, and pricing management across their operations.
White Castle uses Miso Robotics' Flippy 2 in over 100 locations to reduce oil waste, while Chipotle pilots automated avocado prep at 15 sites.
Scandit's software uses on-device vision AI to correlate checkout camera feeds with scanner data, aiming to recover or deter over 75% of losses as self-checkout handles 54% of transactions.
Qu introduced a Smart Kitchen platform at the April 2025 Restaurant Leadership Conference that uses IoT sensors and AI to monitor equipment and optimize energy usage.
U.S. livestream e-commerce sales grew nearly 50% in 2025 to reach $14.64 billion, with buyers up 21.5% year-over-year as brands adopt creator-led streams that blend entertainment with instant purchasing.
Walmart Connect has launched a flexible buying model that allows advertisers to use Walmart first-party audiences with closed-loop measurement when purchasing inventory directly through third-party demand-side platforms.
