From Debenhams ambitions to become the ‘Spotify of retail’ to L’Oreal’s Noli tapping PIM to power product recommendations and The Body Shop building resilience into its global supply chains, what’s been making waves in retail this week?

Debenhams dials-up discovery with Pinterest partnership

At RetailX’s Autumn Festival 2025, we heard from Debenhams’ CEO, Dan Finley, on how the iconic British department store brand is reimagining itself, shaking off its ‘digital dinosaur’ past and transforming into an online multi-brand shopping destination.

Now, the brand is supercharging its digital presence and “showing up at its best” across its own DTC platforms, new channels and international territories.

Finley shared how Debenhams is working with Pinterest to show up earlier in customers’ online discovery journeys, as it looks to become the ‘Spotify of retail,’ helping shoppers search products in a more organic, unintrusive and multi-dimensional way.

“I talk regularly about wanting Debenhams to be to retail what Spotify is to music,” Finley said. “A destination you go to with absolute certainty that across fashion, home and beauty, we will have something you want to buy. But we’ve got to do that in a curated, personalised, inspirational and joyous way.”

Read the full session write-up here: Debenhams’ CEO Dan Finley on discoverability & making the brand the ‘Spotify of retail’.

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L’Oréal’s AI beauty platform Noli deploys Akeneo PIM

L’Oreal’s AI-powered beauty marketplace, Noli, will leverage a Product Information Management (PIM) solution from Akeneo to power its product recommendations engine.

The solution will enable Noli to hyper-personalise product suggestions to meet the unique beauty and skincare needs of each customer, putting the shopper front and centre of the buying experience.

Noli, which is short for ‘No one like I’, uses AI within its multi-brand beauty platform to let customers unlock individual skin and haircare routines from a library of 200,000+ product combinations.

“Noli’s proprietary AI is revolutionising the beauty buying journey, cutting through confusion to deliver a smart, detailed and personalised edit of products,” Romain Fouache, CEO at Akeneo, commented.

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Influencers & content creators sway shopping decisions

Shoppers’ purchasing decisions are being increasingly swayed by online influencers and digital content creators, the latest research from global marketing group, dentsu, reveals.

Original research of over 1,000 UK shoppers suggests the online creator economy now influences over three quarters (77%) of UK consumers when making purchases. Explainers and ‘how-to’ style content are the most persuasive formats influencing 40% of consumers to buy.

“Creators are becoming economic agents in their own right, driving demand and building loyal, monetised audiences” said Julie Chadwick, MD of Dentsu Influence, UK & EMEA.

But trust remains key for successful influencer-brand collaborations. Speaking at Mention Me’s Advocacy Live event, Faye White, a travel and lifestyle influencer, said: “we know engagement with our audiences lives or dies on authenticity; trust is currency for influencers.”

Laila Goumri, a fashion and lifestyle micro-influencer who was also speaking on the panel agreed, saying that “without trust, we have no audience – people can see through inauthentic content instantly.”

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Black Friday demand set to outstrip Amazon Prime Deals Day

Despite growing adoption of Amazon’s Prime Deal Days, twice as many UK consumers plan to shop on Black Friday than those who made purchases on Amazon Prime Day, the latest data from Sensormatic Solutions reveals.

Research of over 1,000 UK consumers in its latest report showed that two fifths (37%) of shoppers planned to shop on Amazon Prime Deal Days (07 & 08 Oct 2025) versus 79% who will shop on Black Friday.

Greater channel choice across on- and off-line as well as deals from brands and retailers outside of the Amazon platform helping to broaden Black Friday’s appeal, as savvy shopping becomes a key trend for Peak Trading 2025.

“Relentless bargain-hunting and cross-checking best prices is now second nature for hyper-savvy shoppers,” said Andy Sumpter, EMEA Retail Consultant at Sensormatic. This means we expect to see elevated demand for Black Friday.”

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OneStock powers next-gen OMS on Shopify with fusefabric

OneStock has announced a strategic partnership with one of Europe’s largest Enterprise Shopify agencies, fusefabric.

The OneStock x fusefabric partnership aims to help larger retailers unlock Shopify’s enterprise scalability with intelligent, advanced order management. Transforming omnichannel operations for growth, the combined solution delivers the strategy, scale and speed to simplify complexity, elevate CX and accelerate performance.

“fusefabric’s deep Shopify expertise and strategic approach aligns perfectly with OneStock’s mission to help retailers turn supply chains into competitive advantage,” said Romulus Grigoras, CEO & Co-Founder of OneStock.

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Abel & Cole, Secret Escapes & Huel on unlocking referral growth

As customer acquisition costs continue to rise, referral marketing is fast becoming an effective growth channel for brands. Yet, building successful referral programmes that truly engage and nurture customers takes more than simply offering a discount.

At Mention Me’s Advocacy Live, we heard from Huel’s Emily Hollis, Abel & Cole’s Julia Brown and Secret Escapes’ Selina Jervis on why emotional relevancy and trust are now consumer currency.

They discussed how brands are rethinking the value exchange at the heart of referrals and strategies for adapting promotions to authentically connect with audiences, all while driving performance.

Read the full session write-up here 👉 Abel & Cole, Secret Escapes and Huel on unlocking referral growth and performance.

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The Body Shop chooses RELEX for supply chain optimisation

The Body Shop will work with RELEX to optimise its global supply chain, tapping its forecasting and replenishment solutions to enhance inventory management and improve operational efficiencies across its global stores, franchises and distribution centres. 

Working with RELEX, as part of its “ambition to become an AI & data-first beauty company,” it will use AI to build a leaner, more resilient supply chain.

“By embedding advanced forecasting and replenishment capabilities, we shift from reactive operations to predictive intelligence, building a supply chain that is agile [and] resilient.” said Hitesh Amin, CTO at The Body Shop.

It will also use RELEX to reduce waste within its operations, which Amin said “lies at the heart” of its ethos and aligns with its brand mission of sustainable and ethical trading.

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