Retail news

• Dunelm launches AI shopping assistant with Google Cloud

  06-08-2026 09:57 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Dunelm has launched an AI-powered shopping assistant that allows customers to search for products, receive recommendations and visualise items in their homes through natural conversation.
  The company’s new ‘Ask Dunelm’ tool is now available within its iOS app and has been developed in partnership with Google Cloud.
  Customers can use the assistant to describe what they are looking for in their own words, ask questions about products and receive suggestions tailored to their styl
  
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• Burnham to crack down on vape and betting shops in bid to boost high streets

  10-08-2026 23:30 via ft.com
  Councils will be given extra powers to curb unwanted retailers and ‘bring town centres back to life’
  
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• Serve First’s Justis Saayman on AI and smarter retail operations

  10-08-2026 22:07 via theretailbulletin.com
  Here we speak with Justis Saayman of TRB partner Serve First about building confident teams, turning real-time customer insight into operational action, and why AI should…
  
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• Joe Ulloa breaks down why its Back to School campaign is so important to Clarks

  10-08-2026 16:32 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  British footwear retailer Clarks unveiled their Back to School summer campaign last week, aimed at capturing the excitement of returning back to school.
  Titled ‘Jump into Clarks’, the marketing drive highlighted the brands promotional offers for the Back to School season.
  Joe Ulloa, Clarks’ UK and EU president explains that the Back to School season is one of the most important trading periods of the year for the retailer.
  He says: “It’s a season with huge heritage
  
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• Shein IPO pitched to investors at sub-$30bn valuation

  10-08-2026 16:15 via ft.com
  Fast-fashion retailer has suffered a roughly 70% drop in valuation over past four years
  
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• poppi’s marketing director on turning Love Island buzz into UK growth

  10-08-2026 15:48 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  poppi is betting on bold branding, a tightly defined Gen Z consumer and culture-led partnerships to stand out in a fiercely competitive category. UK marketing director Stephanie Herbert explains why Love Island is central to that strategy…
  Breaking into soft drinks means taking on some of the biggest brands in grocery. But how do you take on some of the most successful brands of all time? poppi’s answer isn’t to try and go head-to-head, but to behave differently.
  The brand&rsq
  
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• Disney launches Toy Story 5 themed play experience

  10-08-2026 15:38 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Disney UK and Westfield Rise, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s (URW) in-house media agency, have unveiled a new ‘Toy Story 5’ themed immersive family experience.
  Titled ‘Bonnie’s Playtime’, the experience will run at Westfield Stratford until August 31.  The experience was also available at Westfield London until 9 August.
  Alongside the activation, the firm produced a multi-channel marketing drive which combined digital-out-of-home, social, CRM, experiential
  
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• Asda helps to redistribute over one million children’s books

  10-08-2026 15:34 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Asda and The Children’s Book Project have celebrated reaching the milestone of one million pre-loved children’s books donated and redistributed.
  For more than 18 months, customers have been invited to donate pre-loved children’s books at dedicated collection points in more than 300 Asda stores nationwide. The books are then sorted, redistributed and gifted to schools, children’s centres, food banks and community organisations, helping children build libraries of their own
  
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• Co-op chair Debbie White steps down with Moni Mannings becoming interim chair

  10-08-2026 15:04 via theretailbulletin.com
  Co-op Group chair Debbie White has decided to step down from her position and as a member of the board, due to being unable to commit…
  
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• Peter Ruis to step down as John Lewis managing director

  10-08-2026 14:33 via theretailbulletin.com
  The John Lewis Partnership has announced that Peter Ruis has decided to step down from his role as managing director of John Lewis to pursue new…
  
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• Harry Blamire on retail leadership, AI and delivering an exceptional customer experience

  10-08-2026 13:26 via theretailbulletin.com
  Customer experience has shaped Harry Blamire’s career, from the shop floor to senior leadership. In this latest TRB interview, Harry talks about retail leadership, why retailers…
  
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• John Lewis boss Peter Ruis steps down amid ‘really tough’ trading

  10-08-2026 12:27 via ft.com
  Department store’s managing director leaves less than three years after taking up position
  
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• Charles Tyrwhitt celebrates 40th anniversary

  10-08-2026 11:50 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  British menswear brand Charles Tyrwhitt celebrates its 40th anniversary with a new campaign fronted by the brand’s founder Nick Wheeler.
  The marketing drive features exclusive events, VIP store experiences, competitions and exclusive anniversary offers.
  Consumers will also be able to get their hands on limited-edition shopping bags.
  At the centre of the campaign is a hero spot, led by Wheeler, who reflects on the high and lows of the past 40 years.
   
  View this post on Instagram
   
  
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• John Lewis MD Peter Ruis to step down as Will Kernan takes helm

  10-08-2026 11:39 via retailgazette.co.uk
  John Lewis managing director Peter Ruis is stepping down from the department store business, with Partnership board member Will Kernan set to succeed him in September.
  Ruis, who returned to John Lewis in January 2024, will remain with the retailer until 6 September, while Kernan will take up the role in mid-September ahead of the crucial peak trading period.
  John Lewis said the leadership change formed part of an “orderly succession plan”.
  During his latest stint at the retailer, Rui
  
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• Superdrug’s COO on its beauty playground “built solely around exploration”

  10-08-2026 11:25 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Superdrug recently celebrated the first birthday of its beauty playground concept by launching a series of new brands and products.
  The concept, which launched in July 2025 at the brand’s flagship Westfield Stratford London store, now forms a permanent feature in its leading destination stores and online.
  The concept serves as “a hub of beauty discovery” where customers can “explore must-have brands, access beauty services, receive expert advice, and create content w
  
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• CEO Beauty at THG on turning discovery into growth

  10-08-2026 11:03 via retailgazette.co.uk
  Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty have become pillars of THG’s recent success. Francesca Elliott, CEO of beauty retail, explains why leaning into social commerce, AI and sharpened brand identities is a winning formula in an overcrowded beauty market…
  Beauty retail has rarely moved faster. Product discovery, once dominated by department store counters, in-store advisors and editorial pages, is now happening across a host of social platforms, live shopping streams and now AI-powered searc
  
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• Oxfam sells out first eBay Live shopping event

  10-08-2026 10:34 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Oxfam has become the latest charity retailer to launch on eBay Live, selling out every item during its debut livestream shopping event.
  The charity, which has operated an eBay shop for 17 years, drew more than 3,200 viewers to the hour-long session, including around 200 concurrent viewers. The event generated more than 18,000 likes.
  Oxfam said the launch reflected the growing role of live selling in charity retail, with the format giving retailers the chance to engage shoppers directly while rai
  
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• Retail Insight unveils predictive AI capabilities to help grocery retailers reduce food waste and recapture margin

  10-08-2026 10:29 via theretailbulletin.com
  Retail Insight, the AI-powered retail operations platform, trusted by the world’s leading retailers, today announced new breakthroughs in machine learning algorithms that enable retailers to improve…
  
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• What are the four biggest expense costs in retail?

  10-08-2026 10:20 via theretailbulletin.com
  Operational performance in stores is a mixture of four things, one being expense costs. In this blog, HSO dives deep into the four biggest expense costs…
  
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• Primark and Uniqlo turn to clothing repairs in bid to win over Gen Z

  10-08-2026 09:43 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Primark, Uniqlo and Levi’s are ramping up repair services and sewing initiatives in a push to attract younger shoppers increasingly interested in resale, sustainability and making clothes last longer.
  Retailers are increasingly offering everything from in-store repairs and alterations to workshops teaching customers how to sew buttons, patch holes and mend damaged clothing.
  Primark has expanded its free ‘Love It For Longer’ workshops, which teach shoppers basic repair technique
  
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• HMV footfall jumps 12% as K-pop and collectibles lure Gen Z into stores

  10-08-2026 09:37 via retailgazette.co.uk
  HMV and The Works are reportedly benefiting from surging demand for collectibles including K-pop CDs, trading cards and squishy toys as younger consumers increasingly head back to physical stores.
  HMV said visitor numbers across its 114 UK stores jumped 12 per cent in the first half of the year compared with 2025, putting it on track to attract around 50m store visits during 2026.
  It has revamped its shops since the pandemic to dedicate more space to pop culture merchandise, including collectibl
  
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• Mountain Warehouse founder Mark Neale steps down as CEO after 29 years

  10-08-2026 09:29 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Mountain Warehouse founder Mark Neale is stepping down as chief executive after almost three decades at the helm.
  Neale, who launched Mountain Warehouse in 1997, will hand over the chief executive role to long-serving executive Marcus Ward on 1 September. He will remain with the business as executive chairman.
  Ward has been at Mountain Warehouse for almost 20 years, initially joining as finance director before taking on several senior positions. He has served as chief operating and financial off
  
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• Mountain Warehouse founder Mark Neale moves out of CEO role after 29 years

  10-08-2026 09:29 via retailgazette.co.uk
  Mountain Warehouse founder Mark Neale is stepping down as chief executive after almost three decades at the helm, however will take up the position of executive chairman.
  Neale, who launched Mountain Warehouse in 1997, will hand over the chief executive role to long-serving executive Marcus Ward on 1 September.
  Ward has been at Mountain Warehouse for almost 20 years, initially joining as finance director before taking on several senior positions. He has served as chief operating and financial of
  
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• Ocado launches first automated fulfilment centre with Lotte in South Korea

  10-08-2026 09:21 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Ocado has opened its first automated customer fulfilment centre with Lotte Shopping in South Korea.
  The new Busan site will serve around 4m households across the city and wider Yeongnam region and introduces several Ocado Smart Platform technologies for the first time.
  Among them is Ocado’s fully automated freezer, which extends its hive-and-bot technology into temperatures as low as -25°C.
  The group said the system is expected to deliver more than double the productivity of a traditio
  
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• CMA proposes bringing Aldi and Lidl under same land rules as UK’s biggest supermarkets

  10-08-2026 09:15 via theretailbulletin.com
  The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has proposed that Aldi and Lidl be brought under the same land agreement rules as the UK’s largest supermarkets, in…
  
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• Aldi Edinburgh store named unlikely Tripadvisor attraction ahead of Fringe

  10-08-2026 09:12 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Visiting Aldi’s Portobello store has been listed among the city’s ‘Things To Do’ on Tripadvisor, for tourists pouring into the area for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
  Aldi said the branch has become one of only a handful of grocery stores in Scotland to feature as an attraction on the platform, putting it alongside more traditional Edinburgh visitor destinations ahead of this summer’s Fringe.
  Aldi is positioning the Portobello store as an “authentic Scottish f
  
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• M&S urges government to ditch ‘faecal bulk’ fibre guidance for simpler health messaging

  10-08-2026 09:05 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Marks & Spencer has called on the government to overhaul rules governing fibre health claims, arguing that phrases such as “faecal bulk” and “intestinal transit” should be replaced with simpler, consumer-friendly language.
  The company has joined nutritionist Emily English and Bowel Cancer UK ambassador Dr Anisha Patel in writing to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, urging ministers to review the wording retailers are permitted to use when communicatin
  
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• Retailers face crackdown on ‘fake’ discounts in Burnham cost-of-living push

  10-08-2026 08:56 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Retailers could face tougher rules around promotions and “was” prices as Prime Minister Andy Burnham launches a crackdown on misleading discounts and subscription traps.
  The government is planning to stamp out pricing tactics that make deals appear better than they are, including artificially inflated previous prices, invented discounts and misleading recommended retail prices.
  Ministers will launch a consultation this autumn on whether the practices should be added to those banned u
  
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• Joseph fashion brand owner explores potential sale

  10-08-2026 08:55 via theretailbulletin.com
  The Japanese owner of fashion brand Joseph has appointed advisers to explore a potential sale of the business, according to Sky News. Onward Kashiyama is working…
  
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• Virgin Media O2 retail director on its new tech refab lab

  10-08-2026 08:52 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) recently began trialling a new in-store experience at its Westfield Stratford City store to help shoppers “better understand technology recycling and reuse”.
  The business began piloting its “O2 tech refab lab” in July as one of the shop’s interactive discovery zones.
  Created in collaboration with the O2 stores team, the zone is designed to teach shoppers how devices can be given a second life so they don’t go to waste.
  Raising awareness
  
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