Checklist: Is Your Brand Ready for AI-Powered Retail Merchandising?

AI-powered image recognition is transforming how CPG brands track, manage, and optimize in-store execution. Use this checklist to assess your brand’s readiness to adopt AI-driven merchandising solutions that ensure shelf compliance, out-of-stock detection, and retail visibility at scale.

1. Do You (or have plans to) Track Key In-Store KPIs?

• You monitor shelf share, out-of-stock, facing count, and price compliance
• You benchmark store execution across regions or retailers
• KPIs are reported at SKU, category, and store levels

Why it matters: AI image recognition enables automated tracking of these KPIs in near real-time.

2. Can You Act on Execution Gaps in Real Time?

• Your sales or merchandising teams receive alerts for gaps
• You have workflows in place to fix shelf issues quickly
• Insights from shelf data are integrated into your CRM or retail execution platform

Why it matters: The power of AI merchandising lies in faster detection-to-correction cycles.

3. Are your retail execution and insights teams bought-in to act based on in-store data?

• Your leadership is championing this initiative and retail execution and insights teams are aware of the potential to improve sales
• Retail execution and insights teams are trained in ‘change management’ related to process and actions from in-store data.

Why it matters: Change management is a critical enabler to acting based on AI Image Recognition data.

4. Do You Have a way to get Shelf Photos in most locations?

• Field reps or merchandisers are (or available to) capture store shelf photos regularly
• There is a way to get photos and meta-data transferred (either via field execution software App or Image Recognition vendor App) instantly to the cloud.
• Images include full shelf coverage and are clear and high-resolution

Why it matters: Cost effective, clean, consistent images enable efficient accurate AI-based shelf analytics.

5. Is Your Distribution/Planogram Data Digitized and Up-to-Date?

• Store level distribution lists or planograms are available
• Any updates to Planograms/distribution lists are known quickly.
• There is alignment between field and HQ on planogram expectations

Why it matters: AI engines need structured planogram data to measure compliance and suggest corrections.

6. Do You Have a Partner or Platform for Retail AI?

• You’ve evaluated vendors for image recognition accuracy, coverage, and scalability
• You have pilot-tested an AI-based solution or plan to do so
• Integration options with your current tech stack are clear

Why it matters: Choosing the right AI partner is key to long-term success.

Ready to Transform Your Shelf Execution with AI?

If you checked most of the boxes above, your brand is well on its way to leveraging AI image recognition for smarter merchandising. If not, it's time to build the foundation for data-driven retail execution.