Blue Yonder's AI Overhaul Aims to Redefine Retail Supply Chains

DALLAS, TX – January 09, 2026 – As retailers grapple with a volatile market defined by shrinking margins, complex operations, and demanding consumers, supply chain technology leader Blue Yonder has unveiled a suite of new AI-driven innovations aimed at transforming the industry's backbone. The launch represents a significant push to unify planning and execution, embedding intelligent automation across every facet of the retail supply chain, from initial forecast to final delivery and even customer returns.

The move comes at a critical time for the retail sector. Industry analysis reveals a perfect storm of challenges: persistent demand volatility makes forecasting a high-stakes gamble, fragmented IT systems obscure true inventory visibility, and rising operational costs squeeze already thin profit margins. In this environment, the strategic imperative has shifted from a singular focus on speed to a more balanced pursuit of resilience, transparency, and profitability.

The New Frontier of Agentic AI in Retail

At the heart of Blue Yonder's announcement is the widespread deployment of AI-powered "agents"—autonomous digital assistants designed to automate complex decisions and streamline workflows. This push into what the tech industry calls "agentic AI" marks a pivotal evolution from passive analytics to proactive, automated execution.

These new capabilities span the entire retail lifecycle. In planning, enhanced AI agents for Merchandise Financial Planning and Assortment Planning empower teams to identify profit risks and build optimized, localized product mixes based on trend analysis. The Inventory Ops Agent uses AI to evaluate inventory strategies and now allows users to update sourcing setups using natural language prompts, boosting efficiency. For in-store execution, the Shelf Ops Agent automates complex planogram activities, such as product substitutions, at scale.

This is complemented by a new mobile companion app for Allocation and Replenishment, which untethers planners from their desks, allowing them to review and adjust store orders on the go. The goal is to make planning teams more effective, reduce human error, and free up valuable time for higher-impact strategic initiatives.

Addressing a Perfect Storm of Industry Pressures

Blue Yonder's latest solutions are engineered to directly confront the most pressing business challenges facing retailers today. The company aims to replace siloed, reactive processes with a connected, data-driven ecosystem that can anticipate and adapt to market shifts.

“Increasing customer demands for speed, personalization and convenience are driving the need for connected, data-driven supply chain solutions that deliver speed and precision while protecting a company’s bottom line,” said Duncan Angove, CEO of Blue Yonder, in the company's announcement.

A key area of focus is the notoriously costly and complex process of managing returns. A new Smart Disposition engine uses AI models to predict the resale value of returned items across different locations, automatically routing inventory to the optimal channel for maximum margin recovery. This transforms returns from a logistical headache and cost center into a potential revenue stream. Further enhancements in order management include a fulfillment agent providing real-time inventory visibility and a customer service agent designed to resolve order issues more effectively, improving the end-to-end customer journey.

A Crowded Field of AI-Powered Contenders

Blue Yonder is not advancing its AI strategy in a vacuum. The supply chain technology market is fiercely competitive, with major enterprise players like SAP, Oracle, Kinaxis, and Manhattan Associates all aggressively integrating advanced AI and machine learning into their platforms. Oracle's Fusion Cloud SCM and Manhattan Associates' AI Agent Workforce, for example, similarly promise to automate routine tasks and provide predictive insights across logistics and inventory management.

This industry-wide pivot towards intelligent automation underscores the transformative potential of AI. The upcoming NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show in New York is set to be a key battleground where these technology giants will showcase their latest innovations. Blue Yonder plans a significant presence, with sessions dedicated to AI-powered network transparency and turning returns into revenue, signaling its intent to lead the conversation on the future of retail operations. This competitive pressure is accelerating the pace of innovation, with retailers standing to benefit from an increasingly sophisticated array of tools designed to build more resilient and profitable supply chains.

From Warehouse Floor to Customer Doorstep

The impact of these AI innovations extends deep into the physical logistics of the supply chain. The enhanced Blue Yonder Warehouse Management Solution now incorporates pull-based streaming to improve agility and maximize capacity utilization for soft-lines, grocery, and general merchandise retailers. The accompanying Warehouse Ops Agent provides actionable insights to dynamically optimize resources and slotting plans, maximizing throughput without disruption. The company reports that in the first ten months of 2025 alone, its solutions optimized over 23 million human tasks within warehouses.

These back-end efficiencies translate directly into a better front-end customer experience. By connecting warehouse operations with transportation management and order orchestration, retailers can gain a more accurate, real-time picture of inventory. This capability was stress-tested over the 2025 Thanksgiving weekend, when Blue Yonder's platform surfaced inventory availability in milliseconds and estimated delivery dates for over 1.2 billion SKUs, a critical factor in driving online conversion rates.

Jordan Speer, Research Director at IDC, noted the strategic importance of this integrated approach. “By embedding AI across its end-to-end solutions, Blue Yonder enables retailers to unlock greater value and agility across their operations,” Speer stated. “Through innovations that allow planning and execution to work essentially in tandem... Blue Yonder surfaces actionable intelligence for quick, optimal decisions that cut waste and cost while creating opportunity to serve the customer better while driving profitable growth.”

These enhancements are built upon the company's foundational Blue Yonder Platform and its multi-enterprise network, which connects businesses to a global ecosystem of trading partners. By weaving AI agents throughout this integrated framework, Blue Yonder is making a bold claim: that the future of retail will be run not just by human ingenuity, but by the intelligent, automated, and continuous optimization that only artificial intelligence can provide.