DECA Retail Merchandising Practice Exam 2025 – The All-in-One Guide to Mastering Your Exam Success!

Technology plays a critical role in merchandise planning by analyzing sales data, enabling businesses to make informed decisions. Through advanced data analytics tools, retailers can track historical sales trends, monitor inventory levels, and assess consumer behavior. This information allows them to forecast demand more accurately, identify which products are performing well, and determine optimal pricing strategies. By leveraging data, retailers can optimize their assortments, reduce overstock and stockouts, and better align their inventory with customer preferences, ultimately leading to improved profitability and customer satisfaction.

The other options do not align with how technology enhances merchandise planning. Decreasing customer interaction, for example, may not contribute positively to understanding customer needs, while increasing manual inventory checks can lead to inefficiencies and errors. Limiting access to market research would hinder a retailer's ability to stay informed about trends and competitors, which is essential for effective merchandise planning.