From ‘Sephora at M&S’ launching across 100 stores next year to H&M deploying discovery-led on-site search, and misleading AI insights creating financial losses for brands, what’s been making waves in retail this week?
‘Sephora at M&S’ brings beauty destinations to 100 M&S stores
M&S and Sephora have launched Sephora at M&S, a strategic partnership that will bring new beauty destinations to 100 selected M&S stores and online in Spring 2027.
By bringing together Sephora’s beauty expertise, brand relationships and focus on discovery via M&S’ national footprint and omnichannel platform, the move will make a specialist beauty experience accessible to more customers, expanding M&S’ reach and driving footfall.
“Our partnership with Sephora will sit at the heart of our future beauty offer, combining Sephora’s specialist expertise with the strength of the M&S brand, our store estate and our growing digital platform,” commented John Lyttle, MD of Fashion, Home & Beauty at M&S.
Operational blind spots create friction for 55% of shoppers
A lack of real-time visibility and operational blind spots within physical retail are creating preventable friction points in shoppers’ bricks-and-mortar buying journeys, according to the latest data from SAI.
Original research of over 1,000 shoppers revealed that more than half (55%) believe retailers suffer from operational blind spots and don’t have full visibility of their stores.
Over a quarter (27%) say poor staff availability and slow assistance have caused them to abandon a purchase, while unresponsiveness by staff also prompted a third (34%) to question their loyalty to a retailer.
“Retailers can’t fix what they can’t see. And that means stores need to operationalise intelligence to predict, prepare and respond, ensuring customers aren’t left paying the price for operational blind spots,” commented Som Sinha, Co-Founder & CEO of SAI.
Lincolnshire Co-op taps The Barcode Warehouse for new SCO
Lincolnshire Co-op has worked with The Barcode Warehouse to roll out a new self-checkout (SCO) solution to give customers greater choice and convenience.
The new SCO will offer shoppers greater flexibility in how they complete purchases as well as helping stores increase checkout capacity. It will also improve customer flow and help manage queues more effectively during busy trading periods.
Andy Warman, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer at Lincolnshire Co-op, said that the move “represents an important step in enhancing the shopping experience for customers.” He added that the investment “reflects an ongoing commitment to continuing to deliver high standards of customer service and embracing innovation technology that adds value for communities.”
Misleading AI insights leaves 1 in 3 marketers counting the cost to their brand
While marketers are accelerating their use of AI, many have been left counting the cost of misleading or inaccurate AI insights, which have lead to their business losing revenue, says new research from intelligence firm, GWI.
Its poll of over 150 UK marketers showed that over half (55%) have made significant business decisions based on AI-generated insight, which later turned out to be wrong or misleading.
Almost a third (29%) say trusting AI has led to financial losses for their organisation, while 35% report it creating customer complaints and a further 29% blame the technology on reputational damage.
“Marketing teams are under pressure to turn insight into action quickly,” said Jason Mander, Chief Insights Officer at GWI. “But when an AI-generated answer informs a campaign or strategic decision, its accuracy matters even more than its speed. These findings show the business cost of acting on incorrect insights.”
Guest Post | Why absorption – not adoption – is retail’s real AI challenge
While consumers are readily embracing AI within their shopping journeys as adoption continues to rise rapidly, many retailers are still struggling to translate their AI investments into measurable outcomes, says CI&T’s Melissa Minkow.
In our latest guest article, she explores:
↔️ The absorption gap: and why this presents a greater AI challenge for retailers than adoption itself
💡 Strategies for optimising the impact of data on decisions within AI deployments
🛑 How to prevent speed of AI innovation running ahead of creating – and measuring – value
Read more 👉 CI&T’s Melissa Minkow on why retail’s AI challenge isn’t adoption – it’s absorption.
MACH Alliance announces 2026 Impact Award winners
The MACH Alliance, the global, vendor-neutral industry body that sets the standards for open, composable and connected agentic enterprise, has announced the winners of its 2026 Impact Awards at its flagship European event, MACH X: Amsterdam.
Best-of-breed solution providers were recognised, with six MACH Alliance members – Bloomreach, Braze, Constructor, Hightouch, Patchworks and Voucherify – named Agentic Achievement winners for driving performance and tangible ROI through AI advancements.
This year also saw the MACH Alliance appoint Janus Boye as the inaugural honouree of its Jon Panella Award, while BÆRSkin Tactical’s Gus Fune, Voucherify’s Tomasz Pindel and Orium’s David Azoulay were all named as 2026 Impact Makers.
“The conversation around agentic AI has moved on from what’s possible to what’s actually working. This year’s winners have taken agents out of the pilot phase and into production, with results they can measure. And they’ve done it by building on open, composable foundations,” said Jason Cottrell, President of the MACH Alliance.
H&M turns to Voyado for discovery-led search
H&M has enlisted agentic CX solution provider, Voyado, to replace traditional search with intent-based discovery across its ecommerce platform in 60+ markets globally.
Working with Voyado, the retailer moved from basic keyword matching to intent-led discovery, building a model that reads richer sets of real-world signals simultaneously – from purchase behaviour to add-to-bag actions, stock availability and product newness.
This has led to customer search exits dropping -30%, helping more customers browse, explore and buy. It has also reduced what it refers to as ‘soft exits’ – where customers drift away due to friction rather than choice – by -80%.
“Search is a clear signal of what customers actually want. When a customer searches, they’re not browsing – they’re telling you,” said Erica Sandelin Ekelund, CEO at Voyado. “And many retailers are throwing that signal away.”
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