Michael Hill Selects Impact Analytics to Transform Merchandise Planning with Retail-First AI
July 30, 2026
Leading fine jeweler chooses AI-native platform to improve forecasting, inventory replenishment, and localized assortments across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada
NEW YORK, July 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impact Analytics®, the AI-native leader in planning, merchandising, and inventory optimization, today announced that Michael Hill, a leading international fine jewelry retailer, has selected its AI-native, retail-first platform to support demand forecasting, inventory replenishment, store clustering, and assortment planning across its operations in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
As one of the region's leading fine jewelers, Michael Hill continues to invest in technology that helps ensure the right products are in the right stores at the right time, creating a better experience for customers while improving inventory productivity.
Following a comprehensive evaluation, Michael Hill selected Impact Analytics for its retail-specific capabilities, more than a decade of experience applying AI and machine learning to retail, and strong forecasting performance across complex, high-value, low-volume product categories.
"From the beginning, we wanted to partner with a software provider that has been applying AI and machine learning to retail for more than a decade," said Richard Price, Head of Supply Chain Systems at Michael Hill. "That retail-first focus was incredibly important to us. We wanted a partner that truly understands the complexities of retail planning, not a platform built primarily for manufacturing or FMCG. Impact Analytics demonstrated mature AI built specifically for retail, and the forecasting engine gave our planning teams real confidence. Accurate forecasting underpins every planning decision we make, and the results we saw across our assortment reinforced that we had selected the right partner."
Through the partnership, Michael Hill will:
- Improve product availability through more accurate demand forecasting.
- Better localize assortments to reflect customer preferences across different markets and store formats.
- Enable planning teams to focus on higher-value decisions through AI-supported insights and exception-based workflows.
"Retail planning teams don't struggle because they lack data. They struggle because they spend too much time trying to interpret it," said Prashant Agrawal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Impact Analytics. "We've spent more than a decade building AI specifically for retail because retail is fundamentally different from every other industry. Our goal is simple: automate the routine work so merchants and planners can focus on the decisions that matter most. AI should empower people, not replace them, giving teams faster insights and greater confidence to deliver better outcomes for customers."
Michael Hill also selected Impact Analytics for the breadth of its AI-native retail planning platform, enabling the company to modernize multiple planning functions through a single solution while accelerating time to value.
"One of the biggest factors for us was the confidence the platform created with our planning teams," said Matt Keays, Chief Technology Officer at Michael Hill. "Our planners immediately recognized that Impact Analytics understood the realities of retail planning at scale. The opportunity to move from spreadsheet-driven, line-by-line planning to an exceptions-management model is a significant step forward. Combined with the breadth of the platform and our confidence in the underlying AI, we're excited to continue modernizing our planning capabilities."
By combining AI-native planning with retail-specific intelligence, Impact Analytics will help Michael Hill improve product availability, deliver more relevant assortments, and equip merchandising teams with the insights they need to make faster, more informed decisions. Together, the companies share a belief that AI should empower people—helping planning teams spend less time analyzing data and more time creating exceptional customer experiences.
About Michael Hill
Michael Hill is a leading international specialty jewelry retailer operating more than 280 stores across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. For more than 45 years, Michael Hill has helped customers celebrate life's most meaningful moments through expertly crafted jewelry, exceptional customer service, and a commitment to innovation.
About Impact Analytics
Impact Analytics delivers AI-native SaaS solutions and consulting services that help companies maximize profitability and customer satisfaction through deeper data insights and predictive analytics leveraging agentic AI. With a fully integrated, end-to-end platform for planning, forecasting, merchandising, pricing and promotions, Impact Analytics empowers companies to make smarter decisions based on real-time insights, rather than relying on last year’s inputs to forecast and plan this year’s business. Powered by over one million machine learning models, Impact Analytics has been at the forefront of AI innovation for a decade, setting new benchmarks in forecasting, planning, and operational excellence across the retail, grocery, manufacturing, and CPG sectors. Recognized for innovation and growth by Fortune, Financial Times, Inc. 5000, and the RIS Leaderboard, Impact Analytics continues to lead the way in shaping the future of business intelligence. Think differently about AI and learn more at www.impactanalytics.ai.
Media Contact Maggie Dryden Vice President, Global Head of Marketing Impact Analytics maggie.dryden@impactanalytics.ai
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