In a landscape defined by digital acceleration and evolving consumer expectations, UK retailers are sharpening their focus on how, when and where they engage customers.
The boundaries between physical and digital have never been more blurred, and our interviews indicate that retail formats and channel offerings will evolve further in 2026.
As one retail chief executive succinctly puts it: “We’re still very much a physical retailer – but the store’s role has fundamentally changed.”
A single view of the customer – retail’s holy grail
Central to this shift is data. Retailers increasingly understand that the key to seamless customer experiences is visibility and, in 2026, 70% now claim they have a single view of the customer – a healthy jump from 64% in 2025. However, only 28% say that view is in real time, down slightly from 33% last year.
This gap highlights the challenge of keeping pace with real-time decision-making, especially as AI and automation become integral to customer experience and fulfilment strategies.
Antler is investing in enterprise resource planning (ERP) upgrades and merchant planning tech, which chief executive Kirsty Glenne says “powers real-time and much better data and analytics”.
Similarly, Majestic Wine chief executive John Colley says: “We have got a fairly solid omnichannel platform that runs not just the tills, but all of our order management and ecommerce platform. We invested in that three or four years ago. I’d like to think it’s probably one of the most advanced real-time stock for customers platform out there.”
However, the real-time view of the customer is an area of focus, he says: “Areas for development for the future will be: how do we connect the store teams more with customers? We have to be quite careful with GDPR, but how do we give our store colleagues [the best] view of customers? For example, using that to invite them to tastings or promote what’s going on in shops. That kind of technology could build stronger customer and colleague relationships.”
“We have got a fairly solid omnichannel platform that runs not just the tills, but all of our order management and ecommerce platform”
“We’re a very proud bricks-and-mortar retailer and this is where most of our customers interact with us. That’s why we’re investing £25m in our estate as part of a multi-year modernisation programme”
Stores aren’t going anywhere
According to our research, stores will command the largest share of sales in 2026 (49%), settling to around 43% by 2028. Digital platforms will therefore drive greater demand, forecast to increase from 40% in 2026 to 44% in 2028. Wholesale, meanwhile, is predicted to increase from 11% in 2026 to 13% in 2028.
This teetering balancing act between online and offline over the next three years reflects the necessary diversification and deeper channel integration required by retailers to keep up with changing consumer demands.
An integrated approach was favoured by the retailers we interviewed. For example, Wickes chief executive David Wood emphasised that, while nearly two-thirds of the retailer’s sales are digital, “98% of fulfilment comes from the physical store”.
Another home and DIY retailer told us they are expecting to see “more customers shop digitally [and] use the store to collect stock in the next three years”, meaning they are prioritising automation and self-checkout to support this blended experience.
In other words, stores are not merely sales points – they are fast evolving to become both fulfilment hubs and crucial customer experience venues.
Stronger, smarter, more purposeful
Retailers are reassessing their store portfolios – not by sweeping closures, but by refining format, purpose and location.
Nick Collard, chief executive of Bensons for Beds, says the narrative that the store was dead “was a real fallacy”.
“What we’ve seen post-Covid is a real movement of customers wanting specialists. If they are spending that kind of money, in most cases, they want to physically go and see an expert,” he says. In-store customers can also use the retailer’s SleepPro sleep-testing technology.
Dobbies aims to provide its customers with a full day out. “We are a unique mixture of experiential retail and leisure. And, therefore, that ability for people to come and have a day out, to enjoy a coffee and a cake, to go to an event, to buy something while they’re there is the magic of a garden centre,” says chief executive David Robinson.
The chief executive of a premium fashion retailer is keen to stress the positive business case behind stores. “The first thing to say is we believe our stores are assets, not liabilities. If you look at the financial results of our stores – and we have over 200 locations around the world, including concessions in department stores – I think last year only five of them didn’t make a positive contribution, right? Stores are delivering for our business.”
For B&Q chief executive Graham Bell, stores have a critical role. “There are products that people are happy to buy online, like a paintbrush or roller. But if it’s a barbecue or garden furniture, they might want to come in and touch and feel it, or shake it.”
Matalan chief retail officer Katherine Davis emphasises the need for stores within the multichannel journey: “We’re a very proud bricks-and-mortar retailer and this is where most of our customers choose to interact with us. That’s why we’re investing £25m in our estate as part of a multi-year modernisation programme, which will make sure our shops offer the best possible experience for customers.
“At the same time, we’re an omnichannel business, which means that every customer touchpoint needs to feel connected, convenient and distinctly ‘us’.”
Asda’s Karl Doyle outlined an ambitious plan to eventually open 100 standalone George clothing stores, reflecting “a significant cost and investment”.
Meanwhile, Matalan is ramping up a £25m modernisation programme, focused on store refurbishments and new tech such as faster checkouts and RFID tagging.
Davis summed it up: “Whatever we introduce, the goal is the same: to make it easier for colleagues to support customers.”
Selfridges chief operating officer Leonie Foster sums up the ongoing importance of the store: “Our stores are iconic, world-renowned destinations that form the heart of our business.
“They’ve always been more than just places to shop – they’ve served as playgrounds, art galleries, lecture halls, cultural hubs and spaces of inspiration. Their role will only grow in importance in the coming years.”
While 68% expect staffing levels to remain steady and 13% plan to increase them, 10% anticipate reductions – a notable shift from when this survey was conducted in 2024, when only 3% planned to cut jobs in 2025. Economic pressures and rising wage costs are no doubt a factor in this quest for efficiency.
Mamas & Papas is one example of a retailer that offers in-store advice valued by customers (Mamas & Papas)
Mamas & Papas is one example of a retailer that offers in-store advice valued by customers (Mamas & Papas)
Empowering frontline teams with tech
Investments aren’t just in square footage and systems, but in people. Pets at Home chief operating officer Anja Madsen says colleagues are equipped with mobile tools and even AI-powered headsets that deliver real-time product advice. “We want to free them up from task-based work so they can spend more time with customers,” she says.
The Works chief executive Gavin Peck, meanwhile, explains that the introduction of new EPoS software has improved the functionality of tills in store, “enabling colleagues to spend more time on the shopfloor and respond to customers’ requests quickly and efficiently”.
This trend of supporting – not replacing – human interaction is especially prevalent in sectors where advice is paramount. Former Mamas & Papas chief executive Nathan Williams echoes this sentiment: “AI will do lots of things, but it will not replace that human interaction.”
This hybrid model is creating more value across the customer journey. From in-store parenting workshops to pet care consultations, retailers are designing environments where service and experience become differentiators.
Selfridges’ Foster says tech investment has been crucial to better enable store colleagues. “We’ve made significant investments in deepening our customer relationships through the development of our clienteling tool, Reach.
“This platform empowers our team members to capture rich customer data and engage in a highly personalised way that creates more meaningful, memorable and elevated customer experiences through personal outreach and shopping appointments in person and remotely.”
Wickes’ Wood says the business has made “a number of investments across the store that will help colleagues do a better job: investing in new design tools in our showrooms, for example, investing in the new EPoS system”.
“We have Zebra Technologies devices. We continue to invest in the functionality and support that a Zebra device can provide to the colleague, to be more efficient and effective for both themselves and the customer,” he reveals.
Tackling spiralling retail crime
UK shoplifting figures hit a record high in the past year, rising by 20% to 530,643 in the 12 months to March 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics – the highest levels reported since records began in 2003.
Theft is estimated to cost retailers – and their customers – over £2.2bn a year. Incidents of violence and abuse against shop staff also soared by 50% in 2023/24, to around 2,000 a day, according to a British Retail Consortium report.
The new Crime and Policing Bill, due to become law later this year, includes a standalone offence for assaulting shopworkers among other measures. However, retailers have had to act today to better protect their staff and businesses.
Most of the retail leaders with stores that we spoke to have increased their security investment over the past year (68%), whether that is through fitting more CCTV cameras or investing in dedicated on-the-ground security teams.
Changes to store layouts, such as moving high-risk items to be nearer tills, and design changes to improve visibility have been adopted by more than half of the retailers interviewed (54%).
BP vice president for mobility and convenience Joanne Hayward said the retailer has had to increase its security investment, particularly in higher-risk areas.
“We’ve done the body-worn cameras, we’re increasing guarding in certain sites… we’ve introduced security screens in three sites where, unfortunately, we’re suffering counter jumps,” she says. “We do what we call defensive merchandising, so we try to put the more expensive items in an area that’s clear on sight.”
Body-worn cameras are an initiative adopted by a number of retailers we spoke to across a breadth of verticals, including B&Q, Pets at Home, Morrisons and HMV, highlighting the scale of the issue.
Many leaders also spoke about their collaboration with advocacy groups, policymakers and law enforcement in a bid to drive one voice for change.
The tone was generally optimistic that the new Tackling Retail Crime Together strategy, announced in July by the National Business Crime Centre – a partnership between police, government, private sector, trade bodies, not-for-profit groups and academia – will, over time, prove fruitful.
A new era of store experience
If one theme echoed across interviews, it was this: stores must do more than sell. They must inspire, guide and immerse.
The chief executive of one premium fashion retailer described a vision to make the in-store experience feel “like you’re being treated like a high-value customer… like at Chanel, with champagne and personal service”.
Fortnum & Mason chief executive Tom Athron also highlights the importance of the “theatre of retail”. Investment in physical retail space is a top investment priority for the department store in 2026, to ensure its Piccadilly store is “the most extraordinary experience”.
In the art retail sector, Clarendon Fine Art managing director Beth Butterwick says physical galleries are “our most powerful assets,” enabling immersive storytelling and intimate events.
Charity Super.Mkt co-founders Maria Chenoweth and Wayne Hemingway emphasise how physical retail stores add an element of “fun” into secondhand shopping, “the more experiential the better – people love the thrill of the chase, and the social side”.
And Dobbies chief executive David Robinson calls his stores “a unique mixture of experiential retail and leisure,” combining shopping with hospitality and events.
Even for historically pureplay brands such as THG, having a physical presence has become a necessity, with the business opening its first permanent LookFantastic concept store in Manchester in September 2024.
THG Beauty chief executive beauty Lucy Gorman says: “Across our nutrition and beauty businesses, there is opportunity for innovative ways to bring experiential retail and brand activations to life for our customers. We are focusing on expanding both digital and physical interactions in ways that enhance in-real-life customer experience with both pop-up and permanent retail solutions.
“We have seen already how much our customers love engaging with our brands wherever and however they interact with them, and we will continue to make sure they can do this more often.”
Retailers are also investing in tech to support this evolution. B&Q has equipped staff with handhelds and headsets that enhance efficiency and improve customer service.
Dobbies, meanwhile, rolled out multifunctional handhelds for stock, pricing and Dobbies Club Plus sign-ups. Meanwhile, BP is introducing self-checkout and intelligent scheduling systems to enhance service while freeing up staff for more value-added tasks.
Physical stores are essential for making secondhand shopping fun, say Charity Super.Mkt’s co-founders
Physical stores are essential for making secondhand shopping fun, say Charity Super.Mkt’s co-founders
“We are focusing on expanding both digital and physical interactions in ways that enhance in-real-life customer experience with both pop-up and permanent retail solutions”
Hybrid shopping missions: click-and-collect and delivery flexibility
Click-and-collect continues to grow, with Asda revealing that “60% of orders are picked up in a store”. That physical presence – even when not where the transaction starts – is proving critical to conversion.
Retailers are adapting delivery options accordingly. Next-day delivery remains dominant, but named-day and time-slot delivery are gaining ground as consumers seek reliable options that fit around their busy lives.
Buy in store to deliver at home and click-and-collect options also rank highly, pointing to the increasing sophistication of fulfilment strategies.
The chief executive of one fashion retailer notes that stores are the brand’s “biggest interaction point,” often influencing purchases that happen later online.
Wickes’ Wood emphasises that each store acts as a micro warehouse: “Every single one of our stores is its own hub and fulfilment facility.”
A connected vision for 2026
What becomes clear throughout the 2026 research is that success lies in synchronisation – not just between physical and digital, but across every aspect of the retail ecosystem.
The retailers most likely to thrive are those investing in real-time data, diversifying their format strategies and enabling colleagues through smart technology.
Whether it’s The Cotswold Company offering in-store interior design consultations or PureSeoul using their shops to “introduce K-beauty through best-friend style advice,” the goal is the same: make each customer interaction count, wherever it takes place.
Ultimately, as Selfridges’ Foster says: “The lines between physical and digital retail will continue to blur. These are no longer separate channels but integral parts of a single, seamless brand experience.”
Retail in 2026 isn’t just about selling products; it’s about creating compelling experiences, empowering teams and being present wherever the customer chooses to engage.