From Matalan investing £25million in its store network and L’Oréal partnering with NVIDIA to power AI beauty experiences to some of the hottest insights coming out of London Tech Week across extended reality, supply chain evolution and the future customer, what’s been making waves in retail this week?
Crew taps Nest Commerce for search, social & creative
Crew Clothing Group will extend its partnership with global ecommerce marketing agency, Nest Commerce.
Nest will now deliver search, social and creative across all Crew’s brands, including Crew Clothing, Ben Sherman, Pringle and Saltrock, in addition to its existing remit working across the retail group’s paid social.
Nest will also deploy an omnichannel ‘test and learn’ model to help the retailer understand how online signals can drive both digital and offline sales, supporting cross channel growth and its store expansion plans.
LTW 2025 – H&M, Virgin Atlantic & Deliveroo on what consumers really want
With London Tech Week (LTW) hosting a dedicated retail track for the first time this year, Andrew Busby, H&M, Virgin Atlantic and Deliveroo delivered a session exploring what is driving consumers’ evolving demands and if we’re any closer to uncovering what customers really want? They cover:
- Balancing innovation with consumer demands
- Building shopping experience towards customer needs
- Why convenience is now table stakes for shoppers – and drone deliveries!
- Using data for demand-driven tech deployments
- The need for human-led, tech-augmented experiences
Read the full session write-up here: London Tech Week 2025 – H&M, Deliveroo & Virgin Atlantic on what consumers really want
Matalan invests £25million in its store network
Matalan will invest £25million into its store network this year following a funding injection, with 10 new sites and upgrades to 30 existing stores planned to modernise shopping experiences for customers in 2025.
It also plans to improve omnichannel experiences, enhancing digital capabilities and launching a new app to support its ecommerce channel and loyalty programme.
This follows Matalan extending its partnership with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, upgrading ~1,800 in-store devices to Toshiba’s latest hardware and implementing Tobisha’s VisualStore Commerce Platform.
Mobile apps and the loyalty engine of the future
Apps are no longer just a convenient touchpoint, they’re becoming the central hub for loyalty innovation, personalised experiences and Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) engagement, says Sarah Toms, Retail Growth Director at Apadmi, in our latest guest post. She explores:
- Why apps are overtaking traditional loyalty tools
- Increasing engagement by moving from points to behaviour-based rewards
- Unifying key functions – from payments to content – into one cohesive journey
- How to deliver value, even when customers aren’t making a purchase
Read the full article here: Guest Post – Apadmi’s Sarah Toms on why mobile apps are the loyalty engine of the future
Debenhams turns to Peak for AI pricing and promotions
Debenhams has partnered with Peak to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise product pricing and promotions.
It will roll out the intelligent automation tech across its portfolio of brands including PrettyLittle Thing, Boohoo, and Karen Millen, enabling real-time, automated pricing for thousands of SKUs, replacing manual processes with data-driven decision-making.
The solution will allow it to respond more effectively to changing demand, seasonal trends and inventory levels – supporting Debenhams’ ambition to become a leaner, tech-advanced business.
“AI ensures our promotions deliver the best value for our growing customer base, driving business performance as well as customer experience,” said Dan Finley, CEO, Debenhams Group.
LTW 2025 – Wayfair & Selfridges on extended reality
Speaking at LTW Simon Edward was joined by Wayfair, Selfridges and Team Internet in a session which explored how extended reality (XR) is pushing retail boundaries and what brands can do to scale the technology to drive adoption and effectiveness. They discussed:
- More than a conversion tool: key benefits of XR for engagement, reducing friction and lowering returns
- Has the Metaverse has truly gone away? And what’s next if we see a Metaverse revival?
- Deploying the right tech experience for the right buying journey
- Gamifying strategies for XR to boost engagement
- How XR can play well with AI – and the need for a human in the loop
Read the full session write-up here: London Tech Week 2025 – Wayfair & Selfridges on making extended reality effective
L’Oréal links with NVIDIA to power AI beauty experiences
L’Oréal Groupe and NVIDIA have announced a new partnership to power new experiences for beauty shoppers, blending physical, Generative (Gen AI) and Agentic AI.
The collaboration will see L’Oréal leverage NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise platform, which allows rapid AI development and deployment, to “make beauty experiences even more seamless and rewarding.”
One of the first projects L’Oréal and NVIDIA will partner on is Noli, an AI powered multibrand marketplace start-up. Noli is reinventing how people discover and shop for beauty. Leveraging L’Oréal Groupe’s beauty tech leadership and expertise in beauty, beauty science and consumer insights, Noli acts as an ‘AI Beauty Matchmaker’.
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