The global category management software market is expected to grow with robust and sustained growth driven by the escalating complexity of procurement strategies, need for data-driven retail planning, and the necessity for centralized category visibility in supply chains.
Category management software helps organizations particularly in retail, manufacturing, and FMCG analyse, plan, and optimize product categories in relation to consumer behaviour, sales performance, and supplier performance. The worldwide category management software market will be around USD 2,104.3 million in the year 2025. This will grow up to around USD 5,985.1 million by 2035 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.0%.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Market Size in 2025 | USD 2,104.3 million |
| Projected Market Size in 2035 | USD 5,985.1 million |
| CAGR (2025 to 2035) | 11.0% |
The emergence of omni-channel retail, supplier collaborative programs, and the necessity for real-time localized assortment optimization are pushing organizations towards wise category management solutions. New software solutions today include machine learning, shopper data, and planogram automation to automate merchandising, pricing, and inventory decisions.
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North America continues to be the dominant zone, led by Walmart, Kroger, and Amazon incorporating AI-driven category management systems within their supply chain platforms. The USA market is highly mature with excellent adoption among both offline and e-commerce retail. Sophisticated integrations with ERP, CRM, and supplier analytics modules ensure easy category execution.
Europe's market is influenced by the emergence of discount retailing, private label expansion, and cross-border online shopping. The UK, Germany, and France are principal users of modular category management software for supporting localized ranges and green category planning, especially in grocery and health & beauty categories. EU legislation around fair supplier practice and transparency also favours organized category processes.
Asia-Pacific is the region growing the fastest with quick digitization in manufacturing and retail. Major retail chains in China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia are making investments in AI-based merchandising and demand planning. Mobile-first platforms, local supplier mapping, and cloud-native category planning tools are being increasingly adopted to respond to changing consumer tastes.
Integration Complexity, Change Management, and Data Quality Issues
Category management software rollouts typically involve intricate integration with older ERP, POS, and CRM systems. Process change resistance, especially within decentralized procurement scenarios, can dampen adoption rates. Additionally, poor or unreliable data across SKUs, geographies, or suppliers can erode the quality of category intelligence.
AI-Driven Automation, Vertical-Specific Solutions, and Sustainability Metrics
Increasingly, retailers need AI-facilitated automation in pricing, promotional analysis, and planogramming. Solutions providers offering vertically specific software (e.g., for apparel, grocery, consumer electronics) addressing specific merchandising requirements and compliance considerations are becoming competitively differentiated.
Moreover, with ESG reporting increasingly becoming the backbone of supplier evaluation, category management software embedding sustainability scorecards and circular economy KPIs will gain quicker uptake.
From 2020 to 2024, the market experienced rising investment as COVID-19-led supply chain disruptions and changing consumer behaviour compelled companies to rethink category planning. Retailers abandoned spreadsheet-based processes and turned to cloud-based platforms for quicker scenario planning and real-time analysis.
Between 2025 and 2035, the market will migrate towards fully autonomous category management, where AI and machine learning constantly optimize assortments based on shopper opinion, predictive analytics, and hyper-local trends. Vendors of software will integrate natural language interfaces, supplier collaboration hubs, and AI co-pilots to facilitate real-time, cross-functional decision-making.
Integration with IoT-based shelf sensors and AR/VR tools for virtual merchandising are also imminent, transforming the way categories are planned and managed across the world.
Market Shifts: A Comparative Analysis 2020 to 2024 vs. 2025 to 2035
| Market Shift | 2020 to 2024 Trends |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Landscape | Compliance with procurement transparency laws and GDPR-aligned data handling. |
| Consumer Trends | Demand for streamlined category planning and procurement cost optimization. |
| Industry Adoption | Adoption among large retailers and CPG companies for planogramming and vendor collaboration. |
| Supply Chain and Sourcing | Heavy reliance on legacy procurement systems and siloed supplier data. |
| Market Competition | Dominated by vendors like JDA Software, Oracle, and SAP with legacy platforms. |
| Market Growth Drivers | Fueled by demand for omni-channel category planning and price optimization during supply chain disruptions. |
| Sustainability and Environmental Impact | Inclusion of basic supplier carbon reporting and green product tags. |
| Integration of Smart Technologies | Integration of rule-based planning engines and basic dashboard analytics. |
| Advancements in Equipment Design | Desktop-based software with standard SKU-level planning and reporting tools. |
| Market Shift | 2025 to 2035 Projections |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Landscape | Introduction of AI auditing mandates, ESG-compliant supplier vetting standards, and localization of supplier data processing. |
| Consumer Trends | Shift toward predictive category intelligence, real-time performance benchmarking, and sustainability-aligned supplier networks. |
| Industry Adoption | Expansion across e-commerce, healthcare, automotive, and defence sectors integrating AI-powered category performance tools. |
| Supply Chain and Sourcing | Move toward cloud-based sourcing hubs, blockchain-led traceability, and multi-tier category visibility platforms. |
| Market Competition | Rise of SaaS-native startups offering niche category planning tools, visual analytics, and AI-powered decision-support systems. |
| Market Growth Drivers | Driven by ESG mandates, demand forecasting precision, and automated supplier risk and compliance scoring. |
| Sustainability and Environmental Impact | Adoption of full lifecycle impact assessments, carbon-adjusted category plans, and AI-driven eco-friendly assortment curation. |
| Integration of Smart Technologies | Use of GenAI for auto-generated category strategies, machine learning for vendor scoring, and NLP-driven market insight ingestion. |
| Advancements in Equipment Design | Transition to adaptive cloud-native interfaces, mobile category dashboards, and dynamic 3D planogramming with VR integration. |
In the USA, retailers and FMCG leaders have accelerated adoption of AI-led category management solutions to support omni-channel merchandising. Companies are automating assortment planning using GenAI and tying category decisions to shopper behaviour data.
Walmart and Target are integrating live shelf analytics into supplier collaboration dashboards, enhancing both profitability and sustainability outcomes. Compliance with supplier diversity tracking is also pushing software upgrades.
| Country | CAGR (2025 to 2035) |
|---|---|
| USA | 11.2% |
UK retailers are focusing on linking category management to environmental and social governance goals. Tesco and Boots are integrating ESG supplier scores into category planning workflows. British firms also emphasize localized category optimization using real-time POS data and demographic analytics. Cloud-native category management tools are increasingly used in response to Brexit-induced sourcing complexity.
| Country | CAGR (2025 to 2035) |
|---|---|
| UK | 10.8% |
The EU’s green regulations and digital transformation incentives are accelerating the adoption of category management software. Companies in France, Germany, and the Netherlands are embedding lifecycle assessment data and compliance metrics into category decision matrices.
Automotive and pharma sectors are joining traditional retail in using AI for category forecasting and supplier rationalization. Carbon labelling tools are being integrated at the category level.
| Region | CAGR (2025 to 2035) |
|---|---|
| European Union (EU) | 11.6% |
Japan's precise retail planning culture drives strong adoption of advanced category management systems. Retailers such as Aeon and Ito-Yokado are adopting software that blends behavioural analytics with store-specific planograms.
Japan is also pioneering real-time shelf replenishment automation based on category sales patterns. Enterprise buyers are integrating robotic process automation (RPA) into category vendor management.
| Country | CAGR (2025 to 2035) |
|---|---|
| Japan | 11.2% |
South Korea’s fast-paced digital retail environment has made it an early adopter of mobile-first category management solutions. Retailers are using AI-powered tools to dynamically adjust online and offline product mixes by region and season.
Visual-based product clustering and hyper-personalized assortment building are trending, especially in beauty and electronics. Leading chains are also gamifying supplier performance dashboards for faster alignment.
| Country | CAGR (2025 to 2035) |
|---|---|
| South Korea | 11.1% |
| By Deployment | Market Share (2025) |
|---|---|
| Cloud | 62% |
Cloud deployment will lead the category management software market with an estimated 62% market share by 2025. It is spurred by businesses wanting instant access, flexibility, and effortless access with in-place ERP and e-commerce systems. Cloud computing offers businesses real-time management and updating of data, which is most suitable for large organizations.
For instance, a consumer products company with worldwide operations employs cloud category software to coordinate important information like prices and stock across multiple regional offices and retailer partners to enable quicker decisions.
Cloud systems also provide the ability for groups, even geographically dispersed groups, to work together effectively on important tasks like assortment planning and negotiations with suppliers without fear of data silos.
With increasing adoption of digital transformation by retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, cloud deployment is the preferred method for long-term flexibility, responsiveness, and future-proofing procurement processes.
| By Component | Market Share (2025) |
|---|---|
| Assortment Planning | 35% |
Category management software market by component, led by assortment planning, will capture 35% market share in 2025. Grocers are increasingly employing assortment planning software to customize their product offerings by geography, season, and consumer behaviour.
The program gives useful insight, allowing companies to customize products sets to meet the needs of individual customers across markets. A store selling apparel, for instance, can use assortment software to customize collections for city stores in comparison to suburban stores to help ensure that products are getting to the right people.
In the same manner, a food supermarket chain would dynamically adjust shelf space in proportion to local demand, e.g., increase shelf space for vegetarian products as local demand increases.
A UAE chain of national food applies assortment planning software to dynamically allocate shelf space to bestsellers during Ramadan while at the same time maximising customer satisfaction and sales. Through lowering excess inventory and enhancing product mix, assortment planning has emerged as a useful aspect of current category management systems.
Greater complexity in omni-channel retailing and collaboration with suppliers have generated need for category management software. CPG suppliers and grocery retailers are leaving planograms behind for space planning through AI and time-of-day assortment optimization.
Cloud solutions are more and more incorporating customer behaviour analysis, supply chain visibility, and virtual store simulation. Modular grocery-, DIY-, fashion-, and pharmacy-focused solutions as well as investments in drag-and-drop user interfaces, planogram automation, and localized category expertise are being developed by companies to enable global rollouts.
Market Share Analysis by Company
| Company Name | Estimated Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Blue Yonder (JDA Software) | 20-24% |
| SymphonyAI Retail CPG | 16-20% |
| NielsenIQ (reacquired by Advent) | 12-15% |
| RELEX Solutions | 9-12% |
| Planorama (part of Trax) | 6-9% |
| Other Companies (combined) | 20-25% |
| Company Name | Key Offerings/Activities |
|---|---|
| Blue Yonder | In 2024, released an AI-powered space and floor planning engine for grocery and DIY retailers. In 2025, enabled 3D virtual store walkthroughs integrated with customer flow heatmaps. |
| SymphonyAI Retail CPG | In 2024, launched an end-to-end predictive category management suite for pharmacy retail. In 2025, added voice-assisted planogram editing and store clustering via NLP. |
| NielsenIQ | In 2024, rebuilt its legacy Spaceman platform with cloud-native analytics. In 2025, integrated shopper journey analytics and loyalty data for next-gen assortment planning. |
| RELEX Solutions | In 2024, expanded into Latin America with localized planogram tools for discount retailers. In 2025, partnered with beauty brands to personalize shelf layouts based on regional trends. |
| Planorama (Trax) | In 2024, launched AR-powered image recognition for in-store planogram compliance. In 2025, integrated dynamic category insights for FMCG brands operating in Southeast Asia. |
Key Company Insights
Blue Yonder (20-24%)
Blue Yonder takes the lead with AI-driven solutions for high-volume, space-constrained categories. Its focus on 3D visualization and real-time optimization has positioned it as the darling of big-box players and global chains.
SymphonyAI Retail CPG (16-20%)
SymphonyAI specializes in data-driven verticals such as pharmacy and convenience. Its voice and NLP capabilities simplify planogram generation, particularly for retailers with diverse store formats and localized mixes.
NielsenIQ (12-15%)
NielsenIQ utilizes its strength in heritage market data to underpin smart assortment planning. Its Spaceman solution, recoded with upgraded features, brings past category knowledge together with loyalty-led insights to drive wiser shelf choices.
RELEX Solutions (9-12%)
RELEX excels at discount and fast-turn retail. Its moves in Latin America and collaboration with beauty brands prove its capacity to find a space in niche yet expanding markets.
Planorama (6-9%)
Planorama is an image recognition and AR compliance expert. Its AR and image recognition features provide CPG brands with real-time shelf execution feedback that is essential for success in price-conscious and fragmented markets.
Other Key Players (20-25% Combined)
The overall market size for category management software market was USD 2,104.3 million in 2025.
The category management software market is expected to reach USD 5,985.1 million in 2035.
The rising need for data-driven merchandising decisions, enhanced supplier collaboration, and real-time retail analytics fuels the category management software market during the forecast period.
The top 5 countries which drive the development of category management software market are USA, UK, Germany, Canada, and Australia.
On the basis of end-use, retail and e-commerce to command significant share over the forecast period.
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