From the Lionesses’ Euro’s win boosting online sales and footfall to Tesco optimising its retail media capabilities and Co-op launching micro-stores for its On The Go food offering, what’s been making waves in retail this week?

Co-op launches new On The Go food offering in micro-stores

Co-op has launched its new chain of ‘food-for-now’ stores, Co-op On The Go. Its first On The Go store opened yesterday (Thu 31 July, 2025) in Solihull, with a further 15 openings planned over the coming months.

The micro-stores, which will typically be a quarter of the size of its usual convenience shops, will offer fast, high quality food options to meet growing consumer demand for ‘grab-and-go’ eating – from meal deals to hot food counters and deli fare.

“These new stores are a perfect example of us using our expertise to refine our ‘on the go’ offer, so it is focused on giving shoppers exactly what they need, when they need it,” said Matt Hood, MD of Co-op Food. 

Eventually, Co-op plans to keep On The Go stores open for ‘dark trading’ in the evenings, serving hot food, such as Co-op pizzas, for home delivery.

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Lionesses’ Euro’s win sparks online sales boost

The Lionesses’ Euro’s win brought a welcome boost across online and in-store retail as fans showed their support for England’s women’s footfall team.

In the fortnight leading up to the UEFA Women’s final, online fashion revenues increased +26% and sporting goods jumped +14%, said Visualsoft’s data. Meanwhile, ahead of the semi-final, Fanatics, England’s official merchandise seller, said sales of Lionesses products were up +41%.

The Lionesses’ Victory Parade also delivered a boost to retailers; MRI Software’s data showed the event, which drew crowds of ~65,000 supporters, increased Central London footfall by +11.3% year-on-year and +3.1% week-on-week.

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Retailers warn further tax hikes risk stoking inflation

Retail financial leaders have expressed concerns that government policy risks stoking inflation, warning that further tax hikes in the next Budget would trigger more price rises and widen sector job losses, according to the latest poll by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Original research of retail CFOs and Finance Directors, which represent 9,000+ UK stores, showed over half (56%) are pessimistic about trading conditions over the next 12 months. This compares to just 11% who took an optimistic view of the sector outlook for the year ahead.

Almost two-thirds (65%) predict further price rises in the coming year. Now the BRC believes food inflation will reach +6% by the end of the year, posing challenges to household budgets, particularly in the run up to Christmas. 

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Queue busting: how to fix retail’s silent conversion killer

Queues are the silent conversion killer of retail, says Tribe Payments‘ Robin Anderson. Yet, despite advances in payments technology, many retailers remain shackled to outdated POS terminals that hinder sales.

In our latest guest post, he explores:
🛍️ The impact of queues on CX, sales and loyalty
⛓️‍💥 Strategies for unshackling payments from fixed POS
💸 How SoftPOS can enhance flexibility and reduce friction
💳 Unlocking insight from payments data to enhance performance

Read the full article here 👉 Guest Post | Queue busting: Tribe Payments’ Robin Anderson on fixing retail’s conversion killer.

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Poor security leaves retailers vulnerable to cyber risks

Four in five (80%) of the UK’s top 50 retailers remain exposed to at least one form of critical cyber vulnerability, says new research from cyber risk specialists, KYND.

“Retailers hold enormous volumes of sensitive data and operate complex supply chains, so even a seemingly minor oversight — like an expired certificate or unpatched software — can quickly become an open door to attackers,” Andy Thomas, KYND’s CEO, warned.

The findings come after a string of high-profile cyber incidents at UK retailers including M&S, Co-op and Harrods.

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Commerce launched as new parent brand for BigCommerce, Feedonomics & Makeswift

New parent brand, Commerce, which will bring together ecommerce platform BigCommerce, product feed management solution Feedonomics, and composable visual editing system Makeswift, to power the next era of agentic retailing.

“Launching the Commerce brand is about more than a new name and logo,” said CEO, Travis Hess. “It is a clear declaration that we are doubling down on innovation to… help [retailers] move faster, scale smarter and grow on their terms.”

While individually BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift will continue to exist as three separate solutions, their combined capabilities allow retailers to unlock data potential and deliver AI-powered, personalised experiences at scale. 

As part of the move, which it claims delivers a “bold vision” for the future of AI in shopping journeys, BigCommerce has also rebranded to Commerce.com.

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Tesco enlists LiveRamp to enhance its retail media offer

Tesco has extended its partnership with data collaboration partner, LiveRamp, to enhance its insight-driven marketing capabilities.

The move will unlock insights from Tesco’s Clubcard programme, allowing it to deliver more personalised shopping experiences for customers. It will also enhance the supermarket’s Retail Media Network (RMN) offering, improving targeting, measurement and media efficiency to enhance campaign performance and ROAS.

“Tesco’s mission is to deliver the most personalised shopping experiences to our customers across all touchpoints,” said Tom Mardon, Head of Media and Campaign Planning at Tesco. 

“With highly accurate targeting and transparent measurement across digital and in-store, LiveRamp’s solution has provided us with the flexibility to collaborate at scale with multiple media partners,” Mardon added.