Retail

Retail Technology Show Returns with M&S Chairman Archie Norman and the Customer Whisperer

The UK’s Retail Technology Show was my first eye-opening CXM road trip last year, and the show is back, bigger than ever in 2026. Taking place at London’s ExCeL on 22–23 April, RTS brings together more than 16,000 senior retail...

Does Retail Even Know What Personalisation Is Anymore?

Retail loves the word personalisation. It appears in strategy decks, earnings calls, and vendor pitches with near religious consistency. And yet, when shoppers actually show up, most are still treated like interchangeable visitors passing through a digital storefront. Amperity’s new 2026...

Havas CX Index Report: Mind the Experience Gap

Havas has dropped a new X INDEX Report, the seventh edition, providing a useful barometer into the world of customer experience. Badged as “Closing the gap”, it highlights the delta between what companies promise in advertising and what they deliver...

Retail Loyalty Data Shows AI Is Uninspiring For Shoppers

Research from Retail Week and The Grocer show that while online supermarket orders continue to boom, the use of AI for consumers is way down the shopping list. Highlights of the research are live on the The Grocer, with the...

Retail Fraud Forces Tough Decisions for UK Businesses Ahead of 2026

Fraud is forcing UK retailers to make practical, sometimes painful decisions about how they operate. This can mean closing physical stores, cutting back online services, tightening refund and return policies, or putting planned investments on hold. In the most serious...

Trust and Transparency Are Key to Hyper-Personalisation in 2026

Hyper-personalisation is a soaring topic of debate in 2026, powered by the rise in AI features across CXM platforms, with trust and transparency key to delivering a strong customer experience. From a clear need for better-quality consumer offers, to the risk...

Emplifi Brings Reddit Conversations into CX Decision-Making

Emplifi has partnered with Reddit to give brands direct access to real customer conversations and turn them into actions teams can use. The deal will see the integration of Reddit’s Enterprise API into Emplifi Fuel, Emplifi’s execution and intelligence layer. This...

Google Cloud Brings Agentic AI to the Front Lines of Retail and Service at NRF 2026

At NRF 2026, Google Cloud presented its most concrete view yet of where customer experience is heading. Across food service, home improvement, and enterprise retail, the company introduced a new generation of agentic AI tools designed to actively complete tasks...

Holiday Shopping Felt Easier This Year. Losing Customer Trust Was Easier Too

Holiday shopping in 2025 felt easier than in years past, with less searching and less back-and-forth. According to Talkdesk’s Post-2025 Holiday Shopping Survey, AI took work off consumers’ plates. Nearly 89% of U.S. shoppers turned to AI during the holidays, and...

AI Is Getting to Shoppers Before Brands Do, Survey Reveals

Shopping rarely starts where brands expect it to anymore. Long before a customer opens a retailer’s app, lands on a product page, or walks into a store, AI is already in the background helping them make sense of options, filter...

Walmart and Google Integrate Gemini Agentic AI For A Stronger Ecommerce Customer Experience

The news is flooding out of the US National Retail Federation’s Big Show, with the changing face of loyalty already a talking point, and plenty of examples of AI arriving on the shop floor. AI is boosting efforts in the...

Chatbots Delivered AI-Powered Results in 2025, What’s Coming in 2026?

With the news from CES that Amazon’s Alexa+ is finally escaping the company’s consumer hardware and becoming a wider-ranging, web-based, virtual assistant, chatbots are back in the news. That’s after fading in the massive headlights of the rush to all-things...