NRF 2026: SAP Embeds AI Across Retail Operations

SAP will unveil AI-enhanced retail innovations designed to embed AI directly into the core systems that run modern retail businesses.

Think of this like a trailer to a movie. But you’ll get to see the entire plot, rather than a teaser. The German multinational software company will actually use NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, which runs Jan. 11-13 in New York City, to make the announcements.

Anyway, SAP says as retailers contend with volatile demand, fragmented channels, and rising customer expectations, its approach is a unified, closed-loop operating system that uses AI to connect data and automate decisions.

“Retailers face a landscape where AI is no longer optional,” said Balaji Balasubramanian, President and Chief Product Officer for Customer Experience and Consumer Industries, SAP SE.

Turning retail data into real-time intelligence

A cornerstone of SAP’s announcements is Retail Intelligence, a new solution within SAP Business Data Cloud that applies AI to demand and inventory planning. The solution brings together data from SAP applications and third-party systems, giving retailers a unified view of sales, inventory, customers, and suppliers.

SAP says this can improve forecast accuracy, reduce manual planning work and lower inventory costs.

The solution is purpose-built for retailers and direct-to-consumer businesses and is expected to be generally available in the first half of 2026.

Merchandising and promotions with AI

Beyond planning, SAP introduced new AI-assisted capabilities aimed at day-to-day retail decision-making. One example is AI-assisted assortment management, which allows planners to create, modify, or retire assortments using natural language through SAP’s Joule copilot. The firm aims to reduce dependence on specialist users and speed up responses to market shifts.

SAP also announced tighter integration between its SAP Omnichannel Promotion Pricing solution and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for retail, fashion, and vertical industries. This enables promotions, such as bonus buys, to be applied consistently across channels through sales orders. The result is a single source of truth for pricing and promotions, reducing inconsistencies between in-store and online experiences.

Additional enhancements focused on fashion wholesalers and manufacturers expand support for merchandising, segmentation, and manufacturing processes. These improvements lay the groundwork for AI-assisted fashion operations that span design, sourcing, production, and distribution.

Commerce in an AI-driven shopping landscape

SAP’s announcements also reflect a shift in how consumers discover and shop for products. As AI assistants increasingly shape shopping journeys, SAP is positioning retailers to participate in agentic commerce.

With the introduction of a new storefront MCP server within SAP Commerce Cloud, retailers can make their storefronts intelligible to AI systems. This allows product information, pricing, inventory, and promotions to be surfaced directly within AI-enabled discovery and shopping experiences, including platforms such as ChatGPT.

The implication is a move toward channel-less commerce, where engagement, discovery, and transactions happen across a mix of human and AI-assisted touchpoints, rather than being confined to traditional websites or apps.

Using AI to protect fulfillment and loyalty

As fulfillment networks grow more complex, SAP highlighted the role of AI in maintaining trust and reliability. The company announced the Order Reliability Agent as part of the SAP Order Management Services bundle, with a planned release in the second quarter of 2026.

The agent proactively identifies potential order issues before they affect customers, helping retail associates address common questions around order status, stock availability, and fulfillment risks. By combining autonomous AI agents with human oversight, SAP aims to reduce disruptions that can damage customer loyalty.

Together, SAP’s NRF 2026 announcements signal a shift toward deeply embedded, agent-driven intelligence across retail operations, positioning AI not as an add-on, but as foundational infrastructure for growth, efficiency, and customer trust.

Microsoft is turning Copilot from a shopping assistant into a checkout counter. 

The post NRF 2026: SAP Embeds AI Across Retail Operations appeared first on eWEEK.