SAP previews a major retail transformation with AI... "Retail Intelligence" to be launched in the first half of 2026

SAP announced a large-scale rollout of its artificial intelligence(AI) capabilities during the “National Retail Federation(NRF) 2026 Expo” held on the stage in New York. The release aims to achieve AI automation and customer experience innovation throughout the entire distribution process, with key functions such as data analysis, order management, promotions, and product planning expected to be gradually introduced in the first half of 2026.

Balaji Balasubramanian(Balaji Balasubramanian), President of SAP’s Customer Experience and Consumer Industries, stated: “From planning to execution and final customer interaction, an end-to-end system connected by AI is becoming a reality,” and “Especially, agentic AI(agentic AI) is becoming a turning point that will change the very model of retail.”

The core feature is the new retail intelligence(Retail Intelligence) function added to “SAP Business Data Cloud.” This tool integrates sales, inventory, customer, and supplier information from SAP and external systems, supporting AI simulations for demand forecasting and inventory planning. This is expected to improve forecast accuracy, reduce manual processing, and lower inventory costs. Notably, its planning process considers not only humans but also accounts for ‘bot(bot) visits,’ which occupy a significant portion of traffic.

Unlike existing analytics tools, SAP’s new system connects AI comprehensively from customer touchpoints to the supply chain. Balasubramanian explained: “Traditional access paths are breaking down, and new paths such as voice-based search or generative AI models are emerging,” and AI is aligning with this trend by directly linking customer interactions to execution stages.

Additionally, an AI product configuration feature for S/4HANA public cloud was released. Users can interact with SAP’s generative AI assistant ‘Joule(朱尔)’ using natural language to set up product configurations, enabling efficient configuration even without technical expertise. SAP emphasizes that operational baseline standards have been pre-set during this process, along with security mechanisms that allow AI to detect intents that exceed or deviate from these standards, minimizing the risk of erroneous decisions.

SAP also enhanced its integrated promotion capabilities. By linking the Omnichannel Promotion Pricing tool, which applies the same promotions across online and offline channels, with the sales management system, consistent information and offers can be provided at consumer touchpoints. The newly released “Store Front Context Protocol” will be applied in Business Cloud to help AI better understand and utilize store hierarchy data.

Furthermore, an order reliability agent(Order Reliability Agent) feature was introduced. This function aims to predict logistics issues and proactively address potential problems related to order fulfillment status and product availability. SAP is currently collaborating with some clients on development, but specific results have not yet been disclosed.

All these updates are scheduled for release in the first half of 2026, with AI expected to be fully integrated into SAP’s customer experience platform in the future. Analysts believe this release is part of enterprises’ efforts to enhance resilience and expand predictive decision-making capabilities in increasingly complex distribution ecosystems.