From Manual to Mastered: How Nikora Supermarkets Increased Sales per Meter with LEAFIO AI

Nikora Holding is one of Georgia’s largest and most recognized retail chains, operating nearly 600 stores. With a wide assortment and strong customer base, Nikora was poised for growth—but faced inefficiencies in merchandising operations. 

To modernize its approach, the company partnered with LEAFIO AI to implement the LEAFIO Shelf Efficiency software, aiming to optimize planogram management, streamline execution, and enhance in-store performance.

Together with swift scaling, Nikora used to manage planograms manually through Excel—a process that was both time-consuming and prone to error. This approach resulted in:

• Inconsistent product placement across stores
• Ineffective assortment planning leading to overstock and stockouts
• No visibility into planogram performance
• Inefficiencies that drained staff resources and limited responsiveness

To address these challenges and support its evolving commercial strategy, Nikora chose LEAFIO Shelf Efficiency for its intuitive interface, cost-efficiency, and ability to scale with the business. 

The solution stood out as a smart investment capable of not only streamlining current operations but also sustaining long-term growth and expansion.

Starting the project, Nikora sought to overhaul its merchandising strategy by:

• Standardizing shelf layouts across all stores
• Optimizing product assortments based on real-time data
• Increasing operational efficiency and reducing manual workload
• Improving customer experience and boosting sales

The implementation of LEAFIO Shelf Efficiency brought immediate strategic improvements to Nikora’s merchandising operations. By replacing fragmented Excel-based workflows with a centralized and scalable platform, the company was able to gain better control and visibility over shelf planning. 

Consistent and visually optimized product displays became the new standard across all stores, significantly improving the customer experience. The merchandising team gained new levels of agility in managing and updating planograms and was empowered with real-time performance analytics and actionable insights that informed smarter business decisions.

Within the framework of the pilot, the sales dynamics and sales per unit were compared between the store where changes were made and the store where no changes were made.

• Sales Effect on Dynamics: +53.6%
• Sales in Units Effect on Dynamics: +42.48%

By optimizing the planogram for Waffles, Pilot Store turned a previously average-performing shelf into a profit driver. It's like adding an extra week's worth of sales without increasing shelf space.

• Sales Effect on Dynamics: +95.2%
• Sales in Units Effect on Dynamics: +95.8%

The Juices category almost doubled its sales volume after planogram adjustments. This is equivalent to turning one month’s revenue into two.

Waffles: +42,43%

Juices: +11,37%

• Planogram optimization drives tangible sales increases in both volume and shelf efficiency.
• The Juice category demonstrated the highest uplift in absolute and percentage growth.
• The Waffles category achieved substantial unit sales growth and notable improvement in sales per meter.
• The adjustments prove that data-driven merchandising strategies convert into real business value.

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Nikora’s successful deployment of LEAFIO Shelf Efficiency proves that intelligent automation can drive both operational and commercial transformation. With improved merchandising consistency, optimized shelf space, and double-digit sales growth in pilot categories, the project showcases how data-powered tools convert retail strategy into tangible business value.

Ready to transform your merchandising strategy? Contact LEAFIO AI to learn how Shelf Efficiency can drive performance across your store network.