3 read min
Retail is stepping into a new era of intelligence. With unpredictable demand, shifting supply, and customers who expect more than ever, leading brands are rethinking how decisions get made. The latest generation of planning technology is changing the rules.
Agentic AI, advanced analytics, and connected planning platforms are helping retailers sense demand sooner, plan smarter, and execute with precision. These tools don’t just automate work. They give planners the power to test scenarios, make better trade-offs, and collaborate in real time across the business.
Here’s how some of the world’s top retailers are putting these ideas into practice, freeing up cash, cutting waste, and building the agility they need to grow in a volatile market.
EchoStar: From Crisis to Cash Flow
When EchoStar’s wireless retail division—part of a portfolio that includes Boost Mobile, HughesNet, DISH TV, and Sling TV—was weighed down by $500 million in excess inventory, outdated planning tools made it hard to respond to market volatility. A cash flow crunch then forced a radical rethink. “Major phone manufacturers put us on prepayment,” Geoffrey Fry, VP of Enterprise Supply Chain at EchoStar, explained. “That meant we paid first, then got delivery in 10 days.”
To adapt, EchoStar restructured its distribution center into a cross-dock, enabling near–just-in-time delivery. With this new model, materials arrived exactly when needed, cutting the time and money tied up in inventory. The results were dramatic.
According to Geoffrey, divisions still relying on spreadsheets actually saw inventory rise, while the units using o9’s AI-powered planning platform gained speed, visibility, and cash flow. “[Moving from] spreadsheets to o9 made a huge difference,” they added, “even though we’ve only scratched the surface of o9’s capability.”
Zamp S.A.: Scaling End-to-End Planning Across 3,000 Restaurants
Zamp S.A., Brazil’s largest restaurant operator and home to Burger King, Popeyes, and Subway, manages nearly 3,000 locations that must stay synchronized every day.
Through an integrated planning approach combining demand forecasting, supply planning, and store replenishment, Zamp improved forecast accuracy to 92%, cut waste by 60%, and reduced stockouts by 32% - boosting both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
New Balance: Unifying Global Planning
For New Balance, rapid growth brought new complexity. Fragmented systems and inconsistent processes made it difficult to plan effectively across markets.
The company responded by unifying ERP, PLM, and planning systems into one platform - connecting demand, inventory, and supply. The transformation accelerated scenario planning, improved service levels, and made new product introductions faster and smarter.
The Takeaway: From Firefighting to Foresight
Across industries—from fashion and footwear to electronics and quick-service restaurants—the next generation of retail leaders share one trait. They’re connecting their planning, empowering their people, and using data to drive decisions that move the business forward.
As technologies like Agentic AI and real-time analytics mature, retail planning is changing fast. What once took weeks of spreadsheets now happens in seconds. What once relied on instinct is now guided by clear insight. The future of planning isn’t just faster. It’s smarter, more connected, and built around the customer.
About the authors
o9
The Digital Brain Platform
o9 Solutions is a leading Enterprise Knowledge and AI-powered platform helping companies build Agile, Adaptive & Autonomous Planning & Execution Models for transforming enterprise decision-making in environments of rising volatility and uncertainty. Whether it is improving forecast accuracy, matching demand and supply and driving collaboration across the multi-tier supply chain to improve resilience at optimal costs and inventory, or optimizing new product and commercial initiatives to drive revenue growth and margins, decision-making processes from long-range to tactical to execution horizon can be made faster and smarter and connected on o9’s Digital Brain Platform.
o9 brings together game-changing technology innovations — such as innovative enterprise knowledge graph modeling, big data analytics, advanced algorithms for forecasting, demand/supply balancing, scenario planning, real time learning, collaboration, generative and agentic AI, easy-to-use interfaces and cloud-based delivery, and innovative management methods — as well as organization, process and change management best practices to transform decision-making speed and intelligence.
