Study: In-store tech inefficiencies cost retailers 6.4% of gross sales annually

In-store technology investments are becoming widespread — but that does not mean implementation always goes as intended.

Narly all (97%) of retail-based decision makers say they have deployed or plan to deploy store intelligence technology within the next year, according to Coresight Research's annual The State of In-Store Retailing 2026 study, sponsored by Simbe and Relex Solutions. Six-in-10 retailers have already scaled or are actively scaling store intelligence technologies, up 18% year over year.

Despite the increased investments, in-store inefficiencies cost retailers 6.4% of gross sales annually. This is an increase from 5.5% in 2025 and 4.5% in 2024, totaling $196.4 billion across key U.S. retail sectors.

Additional insights from the report include the following:

• Only 33% of retailers are investing in shelf digitization. Instead, many prioritize pricing and supplier systems over shelf digitization, despite those systems' reliance on shelf-level data to perform, according to Coresight.
• Retailers with digitized shelves are seeing enterprise-wide gains. BJ's Wholesale Club accelerated online order fulfillment by approximately 40%. Schnucks Markets detects 14x more addressable out-of-stocks and has reduced out-of-stock items by 30%.
• A strong majority (86%) of retailers report reduced time on manual tasks since introducing store intelligence technology, with an average 14% decrease reallocated toward higher-value work, such as merchandising and product expertise. Coresight says this translates to enhanced customer experience.