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Smarter category management in a faster retail world: how pricing and assortment are evolving

There’s no shortage of talk about technology in retail. Every week brings a new wave of headlines around AI, automation, and analytics. But behind the buzz, a quieter shift is happening, and it’s one that has real implications for the way we approach category management.

Retailers today face an ongoing tension: how to maintain strategic consistency while responding to increasingly fragmented, fast-moving markets. Assortment and pricing – once seasonal or quarterly decisions – are now daily, even hourly, levers. That’s where data-driven, – and even proactive – category management comes in as a new model for modern retail operations.

At dunnhumby, this evolution is central to the work we do in both pricing and assortment – helping retailers move from static plans to living systems that reflect customer behaviour in near real time.

 

From fixed plans to flexibility

Traditional category management has always relied on structure: defined category roles, curated ranges, and pricing ladders that are revisited on a set cadence. That structure still matters. But in today’s environment, shaped by inflation, online growth, supply challenges, and shifting consumer expectations, it’s no longer sufficient on its own.

Category management now needs to be a system grounded in customer strategy, but flexible enough to adapt as conditions change. That means making use of real-time data to understand demand signals as they happen. It means aligning assortment to what customers actually want, not just what fits the planogram. And it means treating price as part of a wider decision system, not a decision made in isolation.

These are the principles behind dunnhumby’s work on pricing and assortment management – not just about tools but about changing how decisions are made, and what those decisions are based on.

 

Pressure to respond at pace

The pressure to respond faster and with more precision is growing. Our recent Consumer Pulse1 and Consumer Trends Tracker2 studies show that economic uncertainty around the world has made customers more selective, while channel fragmentation has made customer behaviour less likely to follow historical norms. The challenge for retailers is to manage this complexity without becoming reactive; to plan with purpose, while remaining agile.

The answer, in many cases, lies in combining clear strategy with better data. Assortment decisions perform better when they’re shaped by real-time impact analysis, while still guided by strategic guiderails, such as loyal customer importance or target demographics. And pricing, for example, becomes more effective when it reflects both demand elasticity and customer perception. These are well-established ideas, but they can now be executed in real time, at scale, and with measurable impact.

This shift isn’t about abandoning traditional levers. It’s about recalibrating them for a more dynamic environment. It’s about knowing where to act, when to act, and what to prioritise – and all backed up by robust data.

 

A shift in mindset

Ultimately, tech-enabled category management is not just about adopting a new platform or plugging in a new data feed. It’s about shifting the operating model and making room for agility without sacrificing strategy. Creating visibility without complexity and allowing teams to act, not just analyse.

The path forward isn’t about choosing between data and instinct, between structure and speed, finding the blend that works and evolving as the market changes. That’s where the real opportunity lies.

Gartner recognition

dunnhumby was recently recognised as a Sample Vendor in two categories – Dynamic and Real-time Pricing and Retail Assortment Management – in the Hype Cycle™ for Retail Technologies, 2025, and in Dynamic and Real-time Pricing in the Hype Cycle™ for Digital Commerce, 2025.

Gartner, Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2025, Sandeep Unni, 7 July 2025
Gartner, Hype Cycle for Digital Commerce, 2025, Sandy Shen, 2 July 2025

Gartner and Hype Cycle are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

 


1 dunnhumby Consumer Pulse study, June 2025
2 dunnhumby Consumer Trends Tracker study, May 2025

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