Manhattan Associates Unveils AI Co-Pilots to Reshape Retail Operations

ATLANTA, GA – January 09, 2026 – Manhattan Associates has announced a significant evolution of its retail technology suite, embedding a new class of artificial intelligence and powerful simulation tools directly into its Manhattan Active® Omni platform. The innovations, showcased at the NRF 2026 conference, are designed to arm retailers with AI-powered 'co-pilots' for store and service staff, and a sophisticated engine for optimizing fulfillment strategy, aiming to redefine operational efficiency and customer experience in a fiercely competitive market.

These enhancements arrive as retailers grapple with immense pressure to unify their digital and physical storefronts while managing increasingly complex supply chains. The company's strategy is to move beyond standalone AI tools, instead integrating intelligence directly into the core workflows of retail employees, from the sales floor to the contact center.

The Rise of the AI Co-Pilot in Retail

The centerpiece of the announcement is the commercial launch of three embedded agentic AI assistants: a Store Associate Agent, a Contact Center Agent, and an OMS Configuration Agent. Unlike chatbots that simply respond to queries, these agents are designed to proactively assist employees. Using a natural language interface, they can analyze real-time data to provide actionable insights on everything from sales trends and inventory levels to customer behavior and returns.

For a store associate, this means having a digital partner that can instantly assess sales performance or guide them through a complex customer issue. For a contact center employee, it means having an AI that provides immediate, contextually relevant customer history to resolve problems faster. The goal is to augment human capabilities, not replace them. Industry analysis supports this approach, with reports from McKinsey suggesting that AI-driven transformations on the front lines can yield productivity gains of 15-20%. This boost comes from automating routine tasks and providing decision support, which can also significantly reduce employee training time.

The trend is sweeping across the retail sector. Major players like Walmart and Best Buy have already reported significant gains from similar AI agent integrations, with Walmart noting a 25% increase in customer satisfaction. Klarna, the fintech giant, now handles a majority of its customer service interactions with a generative AI agent that it projects will boost annual profits by $40 million. Manhattan Associates aims to bring this level of power directly into its unified platform, allowing retailers to build or customize their own agents using its 'Manhattan Agent Foundry'.

Redefining the Customer Journey

Beyond empowering employees, the new enhancements aim to create a more fluid and engaging customer journey. A key feature is the new Customer Facing Display for Manhattan Active® Point of Sale. This secondary screen brings the shopper directly into the checkout process, allowing them to view their cart, apply loyalty information, enter shipping details, and select receipt options in real time. This not only improves transaction accuracy and speed but also creates a more collaborative and transparent in-store experience.

This front-end innovation is deeply connected to the back-end intelligence. When a customer interacts with a contact center agent powered by AI, their data is seamlessly available. When they check out in-store, the system is already working to determine the most efficient fulfillment path. This unified approach is critical, as research indicates AI-driven personalization can lift revenues by 5-10%. By combining behavioral data, preferences, and real-time context across all touchpoints, retailers can create the one-to-one personalized journeys that boost conversion rates and build lasting loyalty.

“Retailers are under constant pressure to move faster, operate smarter, and deliver seamless experiences across every touchpoint,” said Brian Kinsella, SVP of Product Management at Manhattan Associates, in the company's press release. He emphasized the company's belief that “true AI needs to live within rather than alongside our applications,” highlighting a core tenet of their development strategy.

The Strategic Core: Data-Driven Fulfillment

Perhaps the most strategically significant innovation is the new Fulfillment Optimization Simulation engine. This tool gives retailers a virtual sandbox to model and compare different fulfillment strategies. By replaying historical orders or using a selected data set, operations leaders can run 'what if' scenarios to see the precise impact of their decisions before implementing them in the real world.

The engine allows users to balance critical variables—cost, speed, service level, and margin—to find the optimal approach. It provides granular data on potential split shipments, total fulfillment costs per order, and location-level distribution. For example, a retailer could simulate the financial and service-level impact of fulfilling more online orders from stores versus a central distribution center. Users can adjust optimization rules, rerun simulations, and compare results side-by-side to uncover hidden savings and performance improvements.

This capability is vital for building resilience in an era of constant disruption. It allows teams to anticipate constraints, evaluate operational shifts, and analyze trade-offs in a fully self-serve manner, moving strategic decision-making from gut-feel to a data-driven science. This aligns with a broader industry push, where competitors like Microsoft are also advancing 'agentic commerce' by enabling AI to execute retail workflows across channels, signaling a new frontier in supply chain management.

Augmenting the Retail Workforce

The introduction of such powerful AI has naturally sparked discussion about its impact on the retail workforce. The prevailing view, supported by both Manhattan Associates' positioning and broader industry analysis, is one of augmentation, not displacement. The new AI agents are designed to handle repetitive, data-intensive tasks, freeing human employees to focus on what they do best: building relationships, creative problem-solving, and handling complex situations that require empathy and nuance.

This heralds an evolution of retail roles. Store associates become more like expert consultants, armed with instant access to product and customer data. Contact center staff transition from handling routine queries to managing complex escalations that the AI cannot. However, this shift is not without its challenges. According to analysts at Forrester, many organizations underestimate the complexity of reskilling their frontline staff to work effectively with AI, which can lead to underutilized technology.

Successful adoption will require a significant investment in continuous training and a cultural shift toward embracing new tools. It may also lead to the creation of entirely new roles, such as AI trainers or performance managers who 'coach' the digital workforce. By empowering employees with intelligent tools, retailers can not only improve efficiency but also create more engaging and rewarding jobs, transforming the workforce to meet the demands of a new era in commerce.