UK consumers are missing out on truly personalised shopping experiences as retailers admit they’re stuck doing the basics, according to new data from Valtech.

Based on data from 700 senior retail executives, Valtech’s report reveals that despite years of investment, just over a third of retailers describe their efforts as “advanced”, while only one in seven have embedded personalisation across all channels and touchpoints.

Most continue to rely on email campaigns (36%), loyalty programmes (35%), and basic behavioural targeting (34%), while measurement practices remain surface-level – with 39% tracking conversion rate improvements, 38% monitoring CSAT/NPS, 27% measuring repeat purchases and just 21% tracking customer churn.

Retailers struggle to provide ‘unified shopping’ experiences

Even among large, digitally mature retailers, seamless omnichannel integration remains a challenge. While 46% describe their customer experience offering as “fully unified”, 35% acknowledge integration gaps and 19% still operate with siloed or independent systems.

When asked about obstacles, 96% reported at least one significant challenge, most commonly customer identity consistency (17%), data integration between systems (16%), inventory visibility (12%) and measurement or ROI clarity (10%).

Retailers turn to AI – but many still stuck in pilot mode

The top motivators for adopting AI are enhancing customer experience and personalisation (45%), improving operational efficiency (50%) and reducing costs (31%).

However, nearly half (44%) of retailers that have implemented or tested AI say they’ve struggled to move beyond pilot phases or achieve consistent results, citing a lack of in-house expertise (36%), poor data quality (33%), high implementation costs (33%) and competing internal priorities (32%).

“The retail industry is at a crossroads,” said Matt Hildon, European Retail Director at Valtech. “After decades of digital investment, most brands still struggle to connect data with human behaviour. Shoppers are tired of being treated like transactions. True innovation won’t come from more automation, it’ll come from rebuilding trust and making personalisation genuinely personal.”