From Wickes making its move into retail media, to Klarna and eBay boosting resale capabilities across new markets and Authentic Brands investing in post-purchase experiences, what’s been making waves in retail this week?
Wickes enlists Epsilon for retail media move
Wickes has launched a new retail media network, Wickes Retail Media, in partnership with Epsilon, to connect third party brands with its UK home improvement audience.
Wickes Retail Media supports precise activation, helping brands unify digital and in-store signals into a single customer view.
Allowing brands to reach DIYers and trade professionals via on- and off-site campaigns, the new offering helps brands connect with buyers while browsing, researching or shopping, matching customers with targeted messages based on the projects they’re working on.
“We’re excited to see the impact this will have for brands and customers, connecting them at the moments that matter most,” Gary Kibble, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Wickes, commented.
Perfect Ted’s Marisa Poster named Retail Disruptor of the Year
Co-Founder of matcha tea brand Perfect Ted, Marisa Poster, has been named as the industry’s top innovator in the 2026 Retail Disruptors Report, released by Retail Insider in partnership with the Retail Technology Show.
Poster co-founded Perfect Ted in 2021, and since then the Steven Bartlett-backed tea business has grown into Europe’s largest matcha brand with forecasted revenues of £30million.
She joins other retail innovators, including Mohsen Ghasempour, Chief AI Officer at Kingfisher, Chamiah Dewey, Founder of eponymous fashion brand Dewey and Roger Howard, BrandAlley’s Chief Trading Director, in the top 10 hall of fame in this year’s report.
Retail Insider’s Glynn Davis said the report highlighted the “continued innovation being shown across the dynamic retail sector,” adding “amid an ever-changing backdrop, this annual publication seek[s] out individuals having an impact… and highlight[s] the latest stars who light up the sector.”
eBay & Klarna expand resale capabilities in new markets
eBay will expand Klarna’s embedded resell integration across six new markets, including Ireland, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Poland and Switzerland.
By embedding resale capabilities directly into the Klarna app and connecting it to eBay’s global marketplace, eligible purchases made with Klarna can be listed on eBay in just a few taps. This allows customers to easily “turn past purchases into future value,” Klarna’s CCO, David Sykes, said.
The move follows strong adoption in the UK and U.S., where users have created more than one million eBay listings directly through the Klarna app since the feature launched in Dec 2024.
Castore enhances pricing execution with Patchworks
Performance sportswear brand, Castore, has improved pricing speed and accuracy with an integration from Patchworks, delivering greater agility and precision across pricing, promotions and product data.
Historically, pricing at Castore was manually prepared by its merchandising teams – a process that was not only time intensive but was also creating an operational burden, causing system friction and slowdown for its wider teams.
Deploying Patchworks’ Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) solution, it reduced pricing execution times from hours to minutes, while also cutting pricing errors by more than 90%, helping stabilise peak trading operations without adding system strain.
Product availability becomes key loyalty battleground
Product availability has become one of the most powerful drivers of customer loyalty in UK grocery retail, according to the latest report from DHL Supply Chain and Retail Economics.
DHL Supply Chain’s Availability Effect report, which includes insight from 2,000 UK households, found that convenience and reliability now outweigh price for a third of shoppers, demonstrating a shift in how customer loyalty is now won and retained.
“Despite the pressure on shoppers’ wallets, loyalty is being driven by more than price. Even small stock gaps can have a significant impact on how shoppers feel about a retailer,” said Nick Archer, MD of Convenience and Consumer at DHL Supply Chain.
Convenience stores, which account for around one fifth of grocery sales, now represent almost half of all displaced spend due to stockouts, the report said, with 63% of shoppers believing availability is worse in convenience stores.
High Street sales flatline in February – BDO
Total retail sales across discretionary spending categories, including fashion, homeware and lifestyle, grew by just +1.9% in February compared to 2025, says BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker.
While in-store sales rebounded briefly in January as a result of heavy discounting, February saw the High Street record an “anaemic performance” as sales remained flat (+0.6%).
BDO blamed sluggish Valentine’s Day performance on slower February sales, with Sophie Michael, Head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO, saying that “despite the seasonal boost typically associated with Valentine’s Day, there was no sign of consumers rekindling their love for the High Street.”
It also attributed February’s flat performance to ongoing fragile consumer demand across discretionary spending.
Authentic Brands invests in post-purchase with Seel
Authentic Brands Group (Authentic) has selected a solution from Seel to optimise post-purchase experiences among its suite of brands, including Reebok, Juicy Couture, Champion and Roxy.
Authentic will integrate Seel’s solution into its checkout to offer shoppers with an added layer of confidence with protection against delivery issues, such as missing or stolen packages.
“Delivering an exceptional customer experience is our priority,” said Adam Kronengold, Chief Digital Officer at Authentic. “Partnering with Seel allows us to enhance the journey beyond checkout and give our shoppers the confidence they expect.”
The Retail Recap is brought to you in partnership with Flagship PR, a specialist comms agency that delivers pioneering PR for retail tech.
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