All Feature articles
Most recent first.
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FeatureThe future of beauty and wellness: TikTok, science and beautybots
A lot has changed in health and beauty in recent decades, but what do the behaviours of consumers now mean for the category in the long term?
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FeatureMarketing: How AI has transformed advertising and brand storytelling
AI’s role in retail has long been a hidden one; tucked away in supply chains, quietly optimising operations. Now, it’s moving to the front of house, reshaping how retailers attract and keep customers.
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FeatureShein and Temu: can retail ever be the same again?
The ultimate disruptors, Shein and Temu, have built empires on being ultra-cheap, with traditional high street players left to pay the price. Retaliation from new regulators and customs officials is just around the corner, but after changing what Brits think products are worth, will the industry ever go back to normal?
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FeatureGen X: Are mid-career candidates in retail being sidelined in the pursuit of innovation?
Is the retail industry in danger of losing its position as an employer that enables people to progress to their full potential? Some think so…
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FeatureThe future of food and drink consumption: fat jabs, premiumisation and AI
The food and drink industry is hurtling towards yet more change. What should retailers do to prepare?
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FeatureForecasting: How AI has transformed product ranging and stockholding
The days of spreadsheets and educated guesswork are numbered.
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FeatureInside the boardroom: what retail leaders expect in the year ahead
What’s next for retail in 2026? We spoke to the biggest names in British retail to uncover their predictions for the challenges and opportunities ahead.
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FeatureInnovation round-up: Strategic partnerships, AI agents and gamified experiences
The Innovation round-up is our series highlighting retail initiatives that have caught the eye of our team, bringing you new ideas and case studies across technology, sustainability, stores, ecommerce and customer experience. Here we bring you the eight best innovations that caught our attention in the final quarter of 2025.
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FeatureRetail technology: Experts predict tech trends for 2026
What might the new year hold for retail technology? We asked tech experts to share their insights and predictions on what’s to come in 2026
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FeatureShake-ups, showdowns and sabotage: the stories that defined retail in 2025
Retail Week looks back at 2025. From the cyber attacks that crippled high-street giants, to several high-profile administrations and the splitting up of one of Britain’s oldest and best-known brands, the year was another tumultuous one for the sector
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FeatureA tale of two Budgets: Mapping retail’s rising cost crisis
Business rates relief for smaller properties offers some respite, but larger operators – including supermarkets – face higher bills that threaten to push food inflation even more. As retailers brace for cumulative cost pressures, how will these economic policies shape the industry?
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FeatureMerry Crime-mas: What are retailers doing to keep their staff safe over the festive season?
Shoplifting and retail crime continue to plague the industry as cases reach record levels. This is only expected to intensify as the sector enters its busiest – and most dangerous – trading period of the year; the all-important golden quarter
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FeatureFuture Leaders 2025 - Who will be the CEOs of the future?
Meet 20 of UK retail’s most promising leaders-in-waiting. Every individual on our list has the talent, drive and passion to make it to the top, and they’re going to need it if they want to succeed in an industry dominated by crushing government regulation, devastating cyberattacks, harrowing tales of abuse from the shop floor and more. Here are British retail’s future chief executives, but who would want to be one?
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FeatureReviewed: The best retailer Christmas adverts of the year
We’ve gathered a panel of experts from Adland to deliver their verdict on some of the biggest retailer adverts of 2025.
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FeatureTikTok Shop: why are some retailers yet to take the plunge?
Four years on from TikTok Shop’s launch in the UK, Retail Week explores how it has gone from an entertainment app to a revenue driver, which brands have dived in, and which are worried about the murky waters.
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FeatureIdeal world: What would retail look like in the world’s best EV service stations?
If you started from scratch and redesigned service stations and forecourts to deliver a world-class shopping experience, what would they look like?
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FeatureTrimming fat or cutting muscle? How retailers can preserve their brand story in an era of cost-cutting
In the early 1990s, as sky-high interest rates, falling house prices, and an overvalued exchange rate sent the economy into a tailspin, McDonald’s famously slashed its brand marketing budget in a bid to cut costs. Just as famously, it lived to regret that decision.
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FeatureThe age of agentic AI: The next big tech trend in retail
The retail industry has only just wrapped its head around chatbots and AI-powered search, but newer iterations of AI keep emerging
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FeatureFrom browsing bliss to tedious clicks: Has online shopping lost its spark?
According to research by Criteo, 76% of people think that ecommerce is functional, but not fun, almost 80% find shopping online lonely, compared to an experiential in-store experience, and nearly a third even view it as a chore.
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FeatureCustomer loyalty – what will the next three decades of evolution mean for retail?
In 1995, a little card fundamentally changed how retailers would understand their customers for decades to come.