Debenhams dives deep into agentic AI

UK online retailers have enthusiastically embraced many forms of new technology in recent years and with agentic AI being the hot topic at present, Debenhams Group is at the forefront.

As the year’s key shopping season moves in a higher gear, the e-tail giant that owns its signature brand as well as PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN, Karen Millen and more has introduced a new artificial intelligence solution “to help manage sales, stock and pricing more effectively across its brands”.

The tech means it can achieve “faster, data-driven decision-making during the busiest trading period of the year. By combining information on stock, pricing and promotions, it gives teams a clearer view of demand and performance, helping them respond quickly as shopping patterns shift through the season”.

The innovation was created in partnership with Peak, a UiPath company, and is said to be able to “predict and guide decisions — and act on them autonomously — saving the merchandising team time each month and increasing the speed and accuracy of decision-making across brands”.

And by providing its teams with improved insights and the ability to make decisions more quickly, it’s “helping to strengthen planning and coordination across the group in the run-up to Black Friday and the festive shopping season”.

The latest development comes after the company first partnered with Peak in June to explore how AI could enhance product pricing and promotions.

CEO Dan Finley believes this technology “will transform how we manage stock and pricing — especially during the busy festive season — and help us continue to deliver great value and service across all our brands”.

And understandably, Peak’s CEO Richard Potter thinks that the “future of retail belongs to intelligent AI systems — ones that will optimise decision making and take action alongside the business team. By bringing this level of agentic AI innovation to market, Debenhams Group is setting the benchmark for how technology can transform retail performance today”.