If merchandising has to work harder, it needs to move beyond making the right product available at the right place - it needs to help people make decisions. We know from advances in decision sciences that people's choices are influenced by the choice context in which they make their decision. By changing the merchandise offerings based on this understanding, we can modify / influence choices of the shopper. However this requires analyzing huge volumes of relevant data continuously on a real time basis and the intelligence to apply it in the right context.  

This paper explores how modern BI technology can work alongside insights from decision sciences towards better shopper decision making.

To explore further, go to https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/7e2e8015-bf72-43b6-bacd-36565b67febc/resource/DeepaChandra/BehavioralMerchandising-UntappedConsumerInsightswithModernBITechnology.pdf?lang=en