Retailers are beginning to use AI to automate core parts of the merchandising process, including determining what to order and negotiating deals with vendors on their behalf, according to Modern Retail reporting.

Impact · This represents a structural shift in retail operations. Merchandising — product selection, assortment planning, vendor negotiation — has been a human-judgment-intensive function. Automating these decisions compresses cycle times, potentially reduces cost-of-goods through optimized negotiation, and changes the competitive dynamics for e-commerce operators who rely on unique assortment or buyer relationships as moats.

Action · Audit your current merchandising workflow end-to-end this week. Identify the three most time-intensive manual steps (assortment planning, reorder decisions, vendor price negotiations) and evaluate whether existing AI tools or vendor platforms could handle them. Begin with low-risk categories first.

Amazon's Prime Day 2026 is expected to draw more shoppers, with consumers seeking deeper discounts, stocking up on essentials, and encountering more AI-powered shopping tools, according to Modern Retail's preview analysis.

Impact · Prime Day remains the single largest e-commerce demand event outside Q4. Deeper discounts signal intensified price competition, compressing margins for marketplace sellers and competing retailers running counter-events. The addition of AI-powered shopping tools — likely conversational search, AI recommendations, and comparison features — could shift how consumers discover and select products, potentially disadvantaging sellers who have not optimized for AI-mediated discovery.

Action · Review your Prime Day pricing strategy and ensure your product listings are optimized for AI-driven recommendation systems — structured data, complete attribute fields, and competitive pricing signals. If running counter-promotions, benchmark discount depth against expected Prime Day levels.