Late last year, when we were planning our 2014 research agenda, we set aside a “TBD ” slot in our calendar. We’re glad we did, because it enabled us to identify a topic that we likely wouldn’t have been able to predict as a hot item back in September of 2013. That project is now coming to a close, and in just about a week, we’ll be sharing the full results of our newest benchmark report: “Merchandise Assortment Planning and Execution. “

Sure, planning has always been a staple of the retail enterprise, but as the consumer has sped up, so too has a retailer’s need to meet that increasingly complex demand. Throughout the piece, we find that Retail Winners are leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors: so much so, that they almost exist in a different planning world. Just as a small example, consider the value they ascribe to merchandise assortment planning technologies (Figure). Their appetite for tools to help them lay a more relevant product assortment before the consumer – today – is downright ferocious.

Figure: A Glimpse Of Things To Come

 Source: RSR Research, November 2014

Winners are much more excited by the prospects that integrated planning, allocation and replenishment systems can bring them than are their peers. This makes perfect sense, as they are far closer to actually leveraging the benefits this capable new generation of tools can provide. However, their appetite doesn’t stop there: for virtually every merchandise assortment and planning technology we put before them, Retail Winners see more chance to wring potential value in the impending future than their competitors. Put simply, for those who aren’t already burning it up at the point of sale, an improved product assortment is a distant dream, set well off into the future.

This has potential to be an incredibly disruptive moment for the retail industry, and we’ll let you know when the full report comes out next week to learn exactly why that is.