Quiz slashes prices further as it ramps up clearance drive
Quiz Clothing is rolling out deeper discounts across its estate, as its joint administrators continue to assess options for the business. Further markdowns have now been applied across all categories in a bid to drive footfall and clear remaining inv...
The new AI projects coming to the Civil Service
Eight projects proposing ways in which AI can be incorporated into public sector work have been selected as semi-finalists in a government-sponsored competition. Run by digital business and technology service provider NTT DATA, the Civil Service AI a...
UK tech funding roundup: This week’s deals from Wayve to Brainomix
This week’s UK tech funding deals include autonomous driving software group Wayve, engineering simulation company BeyondMath and more. UKTN tracked a whopping £1.08bn worth of UK tech investment this week (23 February to 27 February), an almost 1,000...
Consumer confidence drops despite inflation easing
Consumer confidence dropped in February, the latest GfK consumer confidence index has revealed. The market research company’s overall monthly index score, which was measured from 2 to 16 February, declined by three points to -19. Its expectations for...
Majority support youth social media ban but doubts remain
The vast majority of the British public would support a ban on social media for under-16s, according to a new survey from The Harris Poll UK. According to the group’s survey of 1,000 UK adults, as many as 78% were supportive of a ban, similar to legi...
iProov founder: Own your mistakes
Andrew Bud is the founder and chief executive of iProov, a biometric face verification company used by banks, governments, and enterprises to secure online interactions. In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A , Bud discusses why to be an effective leader...
Fenwick invites shoppers to ‘reconnect with nature’ in spring campaign
Department store Fenwick has unveiled a new spring campaign, asking consumers to “reconnect with their friends, nature and sense of style”. The campaign was photographed by Thiago Santos at the Barbican Conservatory in London. It features new season ...
Asda rolls out “bigger, more inspiring” store concept at Peterborough location
Supermarket chain Asda has accelerated the rollout of its ‘George’ concept stores, starting with Peterborough. This move follows the “strong performance” of its Leeds and Hull stand-alone George stores. The Brotherhood Shopping Park site will be the ...
Poundland stops store closures and launches in-house designed clothes
Poundland has ended its shop closures, as it makes room for clothes designed in-house for its Pep & Co brand. The retailer is carrying out significant clearance sales throughout 450 stores in a bid to make space for its new in-house designed clothing...
Rightmove credits AI integration with profit surge
Property platform Rightmove has in part credited its investments in AI integration with the surge in profits seen in its latest financial results. The company posted an operating profit of £287.9m for the year ended December 2025, representing a 12% ...
Sainsbury’s puts 300 roles at risk in tech overhaul, with changes across Argos
Sainsbury’s has confirmed that around 300 roles are at risk as it restructures its technology and data functions, with changes spanning both its core supermarket business and Argos. The majority of proposed cuts will fall within the retailer’s techno...
Skyscanner turns to ChatGPT with AI flight app
Scottish tech group Skyscanner is exploring how generative AI can be used in the flight planner sector with the launch of a new app in ChatGPT. The Skyscanner app, powered by OpenAI’s flagship generative model, will allow users to give custom request...
Retailers celebrate as London’s iconic Oxford Street gets pedestrianised
Plans to fully pedestrianise London’s iconic Oxford Street have been formally approved, marking a watershed moment for one of the UK’s most prominent retail destinations. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has instructed Transport for London (TfL) to i...
High street sales falter in February as Valentine’s Day fails to deliver boost
High street sales stalled in February despite Valentine’s Day spending, according to BDO’s latest High Street Sales Tracker. Total like-for-like sales across discretionary categories rose just +1.9% last month compared with February 2025 . This is th...
Ocado confirms 1,000 job cuts as part of £150m restructuring drive
Ocado Group has confirmed it will cut around 1,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring effort aimed at reducing costs by £150 million. The cuts amount to roughly 5% of Ocado’s global workforce, with around two‑thirds of roles lost in the UK, primar...
Startup challenging the ‘AI monoculture’ raises £7.5m
Callosum, a startup founded by Cambridge scientists Danyal Akarca and Jascha Achterberg, has raised $10.25m (£7.5m). Akarca and Achterberg, who met during their PHDs at Cambridge, founded Callosum to challenge the idea of an AI monoculture. At the he...
OpenAI names London as its next major research hub
US AI giant OpenAI has announced plans to establish London as its largest research hub outside of its home city of San Francisco. OpenAI has been working extensively in the British tech and AI ecosystem. The company’s first international office was e...
Interpath’s MD on why the department store comeback depends on supply chain discipline
After a decade of decline, and more than a few false dawns, talk of a department store revival is back on the agenda. But this time, says Interpath Advisory managing director and global head of consumer Stuart Reid, the difference is less about nosta...
Manufacturing sector risks Gen Z talent shortfall, warns Nestlé
Nestlé has warned that the UK’s £518bn manufacturing sector faces a growing talent pipeline challenge, as new research shows just 4 per cent of 16–24-year-olds would pursue a career in the industry. The consumer goods giant conducted a survey of 2,00...
WPP tables biggest shake-up in its history to counter AI disruption
WPP is embarking on one of the most radical restructures in its history as it looks to counter the growing disruption of AI, merging major agency brands, cutting costs and repositioning itself as what it calls a “simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled busin...
Ministers call on regulators to enable safe AI adoption
Government ministers have called on the UK’s regulatory bodies to publish plans outlining how they can each support the safe adoption of AI across their jurisdictions. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and her predecessor, now serving as Business Secr...
Aldi overtakes Lidl with new sector‑leading £13.50 pay rate
When Lidl announced a £29 million investment in employee pay, lifting entry‑level hourly wages to £13.45 nationally and £14.80 in London from 1 March, rising to £14.45 and £15.30 respectively with length of service, it claimed the title of Britain’s ...
Google Ventures leads SolveAI’s £33m Series A round
SolveAI, a London-based startup building a no-code automated software development platform, has raised $45m (£33.3m) Series A round led by Google Ventures. Alongside the new funding round, SolveAI has also announced a previously undeclared $5m (£3.7m...
Roblox surges past TikTok as the fastest‑growing Gen Z shopping channel
Roblox has overtaken TikTok as the fastest-growing Gen Z shopping channel, according to the latest research from the Retail Technology Show (RTS). A recent RTS study of 1,000 shoppers found that, on average, Gen Z consumers (born between 1997 and 201...
Retail media measurement: absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence
Retail media conference headlines and panel sessions always end up talking about measurement in retail media and how it’s ‘broken’, or how ‘measurement is not comparable with other media channels.’ What is the reality behind these claims? Colin Lewis...
ANALYSIS: Dunelm’s new app marks a strategic shift toward deeper omnichannel engagement
Dunelm’s new app – rolled out for iOS and Android this week – is a significant step in the retailer’s long‑running effort to tighten the integration between its physical estate, digital experiences and customer data. Coming hot on the heels of a stro...
How Amazon’s Creative Agent turns retail media into a ‘commerce engine’
The rise of retail media has seen demand for ad content to skyrocket; formats, form factors, time-of-day messaging and quasi-individual targeting all mean that the volume of ad content has grown exponentially. Naturally, AI holds the key as it now of...
Samsung Ads’ smart TV carousel delivers for non-endemic brands
Samsung Ads , the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics’ media division, has launched an Immersive Carousel ad unit which enables advertisers on Samsung TV home screens to run ads with up to five separate tiles. The ad unit is available on the 70 mi...
GUEST COMMENT Hello, answer engines: how brands can stay seen when users don’t click
With AI-powered search answering questions directly, brands must rethink SEO, focusing on structured content, featured snippets, and voice-assistant visibility rather than raw click-through traffic. Louis Riat-Bonello, PPC and SEO expert at Optisearc...
ZigZag teams up with Vinted Go as locker‑based returns climb
Returns expert ZigZag has teamed up with Vinted Go, adding the logistics arm of the fast‑growing resale platform to its carrier library as demand for out‑of‑home (OOH) returns continues to rise. The move aligns with Vinted deepening its presence in E...