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Big-box stores were designed to hold inventory and move carts. Today the same building also has to show accurate prices, support online orders for pickup, process returns bought on a phone, and give staff a way to find stock without walking the aisles. When those jobs run on systems that do not talk to each other, the cost shows up in ways shoppers feel: a shelf price that does not match the register, an item listed as available that is not on the shelf, or a checkout line with too few open lanes. A serious upgrade means connecting the systems a store already owns and giving associates tools they can use where the work happens. It does not mean buying one new device and expecting results.
Why the store now has to do more than sell
A large physical store now plays several roles at once. It is a showroom where people compare products, a checkout point, a pickup location for online orders, a returns counter for purchases made anywhere, and a fulfillment node that ships items to homes. McKinsey’s April 27, 2026 discussion of stores in the age of AI frames convenience in exactly these terms, identifying predictable inventory, clear pricing, and smooth transitions between digital and physical channels as parts of the experience. McKinsey’s article on stores and AI makes the point that a shopper does not experience these as separate departments. If the app says an item is in stock and the shelf is empty, the store has failed, even if every individual system technically worked.
That is why the upgrade question is less about any one technology and more about whether the store’s operations and its digital channels share the same picture of reality.
Where the breakdown shows up
Three failure points account for most of the friction a shopper encounters. Each one has a direct cost, and each one is a symptom of disconnected systems rather than a single broken tool.
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Inventory that is wrong
When an online listing says a product is available for pickup, the shopper has made a plan around that answer. If the count is off, the store wastes a trip and the customer loses time or has to buy the item elsewhere. In Incisiv’s 2026 study, summarized by Verizon Business, 47% of retailers identified inventory accuracy as a core operational efficiency priority. That figure reflects how many retailers rank the problem, not how often it occurs in any one store.
Prices that do not match
A price on a shelf tag, a price in the app, and a price at the register should be the same number. Deloitte’s connected-store article, dated April 2, 2026, lists price accuracy among the outcomes a connected store should improve, alongside on-shelf availability and inventory confidence. For a household budget, a small mismatch repeated across a full cart is the kind of error that adds up quietly. Shoppers who check each receipt against the shelf are doing manual auditing that the store itself should be automating.
Checkout and returns that stall
In the same Incisiv study, 44% of retailers identified checkout speed as a core operational efficiency priority. Returns are a related pressure point. A purchase made online and returned in a store requires the store to see the order, the item, and the refund rules at once. If those records live in different systems, the associate spends time on lookups instead of service, and the customer waits.
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What a modern big-box store should actually improve
Deloitte’s framing is useful because it does not start with a gadget. It describes linking existing point-of-sale systems, inventory records, electronic shelf labels, RFID, cameras, and workforce tools into a shared data layer, then using that layer to improve price accuracy, on-shelf availability, and inventory confidence. Its aim is to reduce manual audits and the reactive firefighting that consumes staff time. S&P Global’s August 2025 technology primer describes a similar foundation: modern POS, cloud-based inventory, and RFID tracking working as one infrastructure rather than separate purchases.
Verizon Business’s summary of Incisiv’s 2026 study adds the associate side of the picture, listing associate Wi-Fi, digital push-to-talk, mobile inventory tracking, and video-based training. Each upgrade addresses a different problem, so they are not interchangeable. The table below compares them on the criteria a store manager or an informed shopper should ask about.
| Upgrade area | Problem it addresses | Inventory and price accuracy | Usable at the point of work | Integration with existing systems | Operational evidence in the cited sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connected POS, inventory, and shelf labels | Price and stock mismatches across channels | Directly targeted; Deloitte lists price accuracy and inventory confidence as goals | Depends on store design; not stated | Core purpose: link existing systems into a shared data layer | Described as a direction by Deloitte (April 2, 2026); no comparable results stated |
| Mobile inventory tracking for associates | Finding and confirming stock on the floor | Improves timeliness of counts; accuracy depends on the underlying data | Yes, this is its purpose | Must read the same inventory records as the back office | Deployment figure of 32% reported by Verizon Business (Incisiv, 2026) |
| Associate Wi-Fi and digital push-to-talk | Staff reachability and fast coordination | Indirect | Yes | Requires store network and device management | Listed in Verizon’s study summary; deployment rate not stated in the summary |
| Video-based associate training | Consistent onboarding in a high-turnover workforce | Indirect | Used between shifts or on the floor, depending on setup | Standalone in most deployments; not stated | Deployment figure of 35% reported by Verizon Business (Incisiv, 2026) |
| Cloud-based inventory and RFID tracking | Item-level visibility across the store and stockroom | Potentially high, depending on tag coverage and process discipline | Yes, when handheld readers are issued | Requires integration with inventory and order systems | Described as infrastructure by S&P Global (August 2025); no return estimates given |
The cost and expected impact of each option are the hardest part to compare. The sources gathered for this article do not establish a universal upgrade sequence or comparable return-on-investment estimates, so the right order and budget depend on each retailer’s store footprint, systems, and workforce.
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What the 2026 survey numbers say, and what they do not
Verizon Business reported findings from a study conducted by Incisiv in partnership with Verizon Business and Cisco, published as the 2026 Connected Retail Experience Study. Its headline was that retailers see AI as central but that execution lags. The figures below are as summarized by Verizon. They describe the share of retailers responding in that study and should not be read as universal results.
- 67% of retailers reported still facing hiring and retention issues.
- 47% identified inventory accuracy as a core operational efficiency priority.
- 44% identified checkout speed as a core operational efficiency priority.
- 83% indicated that AI is a necessity to compete.
- Deployment of mobile tools for associates doubled over the prior two years.
- Deployment of mobile inventory tracking apps stood at 32%, and video-based associate training at 35%.
The Verizon summary did not state the study’s sample size or the geographic makeup of its respondents, so these numbers are best read as a directional snapshot of the industry’s priorities rather than a measure of any particular chain.
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How large retailers describe their own approach
Company documents show that the largest chains are working on the same problems, but they frame the work differently. These are stated plans and priorities, not evidence that the changes have already produced results.
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Target
Target’s 2025 Annual Report lists four priorities: merchandising authority, elevating the guest experience, accelerating technology, and strengthening its team and communities. The report describes improving product availability and presentation, training and team support, search and personalization, and reducing friction for store teams. Target’s framing puts the associate and the shelf at the center.
Best Buy
Best Buy’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2025 describes planned digital search and discovery improvements and AI-supported personalization for fiscal 2026. It also describes store appearance and merchandising updates rather than large-scale remodels, along with store labor optimization. The emphasis is on incremental changes to the store that an existing customer would notice, rather than a single transformation.
Walmart
Walmart’s Retail Rewired Report 2025, published June 4, 2025, discusses the importance of speed in shopping decisions and the role of AI-assisted shopping. The same report notes that shoppers hesitate to trust AI recommendations for some significant purchases, including furniture and groceries. These are Walmart’s findings, presented in its own report, and should not be treated as independent consumer research.
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Where AI fits and where it does not
AI can support search, personalization, and store operations. The 83% figure above shows that most retailers in the Incisiv study treat it as necessary. But AI sits on top of the same foundation. A recommendation engine can only be as useful as the inventory and price data it reads, and a store assistant cannot fix a stockroom that is not counted. Walmart’s note on trust limits is a reminder that customers may not accept automated advice for expensive or considered purchases, regardless of how capable the tool is.
Buying a new device or adding an AI feature does not automatically improve accuracy, speed, or satisfaction. Those outcomes depend on whether the store has trustworthy data, clear ownership of each process, and staff who can act on what the system shows them. The connected-store idea is valuable precisely because it asks for integration and execution, which are harder than purchasing.
What this means when you shop
You cannot audit a retailer’s systems from the aisle, but a few habits reduce the financial risk of a store that is still catching up.
- Check the price on the shelf tag, in the app, and on the receipt before you leave the checkout area. If they differ, ask for the price to be corrected before you pay.
- When a store app shows an item for pickup, confirm the stock with the store if the item matters to your plans. Availability is only as current as the last count.
- Keep the order confirmation and the original receipt for any purchase you might return in a store, since the store may need both to process the refund.
- Read each retailer’s return policy for online and in-store purchases separately. Policies are set by the retailer and can differ by channel, so the sources here do not establish a single standard.
- Use the store’s self-checkout and express lanes only when you are confident in the price and quantity of each item, because errors are easier to miss when no associate reviews the cart.
The upgrade that matters most to a shopper is the one that makes the store’s answer about price, stock, and refunds the same no matter which screen you looked at first.
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