All Newsletter briefing articles
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Next and Middle East costs, coolest stores and LADs
Next has no doubt been the most transparent major UK retailer on the potential costs of the conflict in the Middle East, and that trend continued yesterday with the release of its once again forecast-busting Q1 results. The company tripled its previous guidance of ÂŁ15m costs to ÂŁ47m, with ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: The view from World Retail Congress and an inflation vibe check
Our man abroad: Iâm at World Retail Congress in Berlin, and a repeated theme coming up in discussions is that at last yearâs conference, everyone was talking about tariffs. Now, that topic is barely on the agenda. Instead, everyone is talking about the energy crisis caused by the war in ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: An AI threat emerges; Which retailers are making the best use of tech?
One year on from a devastating cyber attack at M&S, the industry is still scarred from such a large-scale attack that ended up costing the retailer hundreds of millions. I donât need to remind you about all the other brands out there that suffered hacks and cyber attacks following, but ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Unveiling the AI investment tracker; Sparks makes a huge return
Retail Week has come up with an incredibly handy AI investment tracker that does what it says on the tin. It follows every AI investment we have reported since June 2023 and provides more information on the retailer, supplier, and other details. The investments have really been ramping up in ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: AI Investment Tracker; Hackett and Bodenâs speedy delivery
Introducing the Retail Week AI Investment Tracker. Weâve been reporting in depth about how UK retailers (and some big names abroad, too) are experimenting with AI for the past two years. It made a lot of sense to put all of those announcements in place, so you could see what ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Transformation of marketing through AI; latest partnership update; and more
I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. In the absence of last weekâs briefing, we have a lot to unpack â starting with last weekâs essential read around how AI has transformed retail marketing, advertising, and brand storytelling. There were some really compelling opinions on what AI can ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: We have a ceasefire; charting profitability of fashion etailers
On Tuesday, Iran and the US confirmed a two-week ceasefire. This included the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which has been driving petrol prices, jet fuel, and natural gas prices in the UK upwards. Share prices of retailers with Asian supply chain exposure or strong travel ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: 9% food price inflation?; the importance of digital wallets
All the retail data weâre seeing at the moment is landing with a chunky caveat. We had grocery price inflation of 4.3% in March, according to Worldpanel by Numerator, and consumer confidence was down two points, said GfK. Retail sales volumes (excl. fuel), according to the ONS, were down 0.5 ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Changes at the top; Asos aims to impress with new app features
I canât start this weekâs briefing without addressing the leadership changes occurring in retail of late. There have been changes at the top for N Brown and Holland & Barrett, but perhaps most shockingly, the two updates to the City were that Co-op boss Shirine Khoury-Haq is leaving the business ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Countdown to âAwful Aprilâ, inflation and Next results
We are just a few days away from the new financial year, which means bill rises aplenty (and a wage bump if you are lucky). My commiserations, in particular, to those in Aberdeenshire who are facing a 10% rise in council tax for the second year in a row. Last ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Launch of online shopping platform Joybuy; the winners at the Retail Week Awards
We are jam-packed with content this week, so I will try to put the âbriefâ in briefing. First off, an exciting launch from JD.comâs online shopping venture Joybuy, which launched in the UK and Europe last week. The excitement from managing director Matthew Nobbs was evident when speaking to him, ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Do people want to checkout in AI?; AF beer now a staple
Earlier this month, we had the surprising news that OpenAI was going to scale back its support for an integrated checkout within ChatGPT. First reported by The Information, the decision marks a sharp reversal on the tech firmâs initial retail plans announced in September last year. The Information report said ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Agentic commerce is all the rage; Middle East woes spells supply chain trouble
John Lewis made the rather exciting statement that it aims to become one of the first UK retailers to âfully embrace the new era of retailâ as it makes a significant investment in digital. Part of that is a pilot launch on TikTok Shop, while the other is leveraging AI-shopping ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Consumers brace for inflation, TGJones, disruptors of the year
The war in Iran is going to affect inflation. Current estimates of potential impact seem to place us well short of the 10%+ yearly price rises we were seeing in late 2022, but some are still quite unpleasant. RSM UK put out a note on Monday saying price rises could ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: Thatâs a wrap on LIVE; Our thoughts on Topshopâs AI catwalk
Last week, we had our flagship event â LIVE: Retail Week x The Grocer. For the few of you who werenât there, or for those who just want a recap, look no further, as the Retail Week team compiled an insightful article looking at some of the sessions that were ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Argos wins DCI; spring statement and inflation
Argos is the first ever winner of the Digital Capability Index, as we revealed on Tuesday at LIVE 2026: Retail Week x The Grocer, with Tesco in second place as the strongest performing grocer. I revealed the results on stage, including our snazzy Football Manager -style radar charts showing performance ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: How AI is impacting the grocery sector; the rise in paid returns
In the first of our Future of Consumption series, Ellis Hawthorne took a look at whatâs changing in the world of food and drink. Itâs been an interesting few months for this sector, with fat jabs now used by a whopping 2.4 million UK adults, spending habits have changed, and ...
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Has retail crime peaked?; ONS sales figures, tariffs and potatoes
Retailersâ ÂŁ5bn investment in tackling retail crime over the past five years appears to be paying off. New figures out from the BRC and Sensormatic* crime report this week show that violence and abuse against shop workers fell by a fifth between 2023/24 and 2024/25. The figures remain very high, ...
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Tech & Digital Briefing: AI is not just something for the future; eBay challenges Vinted with Depop buy
âIt is easy for retailers to position AI as something for the future. The reality is more urgent,â writes OC&Câs Matt Coode. That grabbed my attention. So, did the statement that AI will have influenced nearly ÂŁ1m in sales in the time it takes to read that article. He warns ...