SAP reveals new AI retail tools spanning planning to orders

SAP has outlined a set of AI-focused product updates for retailers, including new planning tools, merchandising features and early work on agentic commerce services.

The company said the announcements cover retail intelligence in its data platform, natural language features for assortment management and integration work across promotions and order management. SAP also flagged new components in SAP Commerce Cloud that it said connect storefront data with AI-led shopping journeys.

"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. "SAP provides one closed-loop, AI-enhanced retail operating system that ties planning, execution and engagement together. We put data and AI at the heart of retail, delivering speed, personalisation and growth across every channel and segment."

Retail intelligence

SAP said it will release a Retail Intelligence product within SAP Business Data Cloud. The company positioned it as a demand and inventory planning tool that draws on data from SAP applications and third-party systems.

SAP said the product includes "AI-generated simulations" that planners can use when they assess demand outcomes and inventory decisions. The company said it targets retailers and direct-to-consumer businesses. SAP said it expects general availability in the first half of 2026.

Industry analyst IDC said retailers increasingly want AI features inside core systems rather than standalone tools.

"Retailers are seeking built-in, embedded AI solutions to help balance daily operations, future planning and agility to manage a dynamic market," said Ananda Chakravarty, Vice President of IDC Retail Insights. "What sets SAP apart is the holistic nature of its approach, offering an agentic operating system that works in the background, connects data and orchestrates agents. SAP makes it an easy lift for retailers to achieve enterprise-wide intelligence, avoiding the complexity of many point solutions."

Merchandising tools

SAP also described new AI-assisted features for assortment management. The company said retail planners can create, modify or retire assortments using natural language prompts through its Joule copilot.

The feature aims at merchandising teams that rely on specialist users for assortment changes. SAP said the approach reduces bottlenecks and shortens response times when market conditions shift.

SAP also announced a promotions integration in order processing. The company said it has connected SAP Omnichannel Promotion Pricing with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for retail, fashion and vertical business scenarios.

SAP said the integration applies promotions such as bonus buys across channels. It also said it provides a "single source of truth for pricing and promotions" across store and online environments.

In fashion, SAP said it will add deeper support across merchandising, segmentation and manufacturing processes for wholesalers and manufacturers. The company described the changes as additional data and process support that can be used across fashion operations.

Agentic commerce

SAP also set out its view that AI assistants will play a larger role in product discovery and purchase decisions. The company said retailers will need mechanisms that place product, price, inventory and promotions data in front of these systems.

As part of that work, SAP announced a new storefront MCP server within SAP Commerce Cloud. SAP said it forms part of its "agentic commerce" direction. It described the MCP server as a way for retailers to make storefronts intelligible to AI.

SAP said this approach can extend shopping experiences beyond a retailer's own website. It cited ChatGPT as an example of an external platform where discovery and shopping can occur.

Order management

SAP also said it plans to introduce an Order Reliability Agent inside the SAP Order Management Services bundle. The company said it plans release in the second quarter of 2026.

SAP described the agent as a tool that identifies and resolves potential order issues. It also said it can assist customer-facing staff with queries on order status, stock availability and fulfilment risks.

The timeline puts several of the updates into 2026, with separate release windows for planning and order management tools. SAP has not set out pricing or customer rollout detail for the new components.

"SAP makes it an easy lift for retailers to achieve enterprise-wide intelligence, avoiding the complexity of many point solutions," said Chakravarty.