Claire's executive Malcolm Lamboy hails transformational year for retailer's tech teams

Claire's Executive Director Malcolm Lamboy has taken to social media to discuss technology related progress in 2025 and the retailer's plans for 2026.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: "As we close out 2025, I couldn’t be prouder of the incredible progress our technology teams have made at Claire’s. This year has been all about transformation, modernising our foundation, optimising our operations, and driving measurable business impact."

"We achieved a massive reduction in Azure spend, over 48% year-over-year, by right-sizing workloads, strengthening governance, and leveraging automation. These changes are delivering real savings while increasing agility and scalability."

He added: "We optimised Microsoft 365 licensing to align with how our teams truly work, enabling greater collaboration, efficiency, and flexibility across the organisation, all while reducing unnecessary cost."

"We rebuilt and streamlined our data structure, creating a more connected and intelligent ecosystem. Faster insights, better governance, and unified data are now helping us make stronger, faster business decisions every day."

"From accelerating store technology refreshes to enhancing cybersecurity, 2025 has shown what’s possible when IT and business teams move in lockstep toward shared outcomes."

Looking ahead to 2026, Claire's is preparing to: Upgrade legacy systems to modernise its tech stack; Deliver faster, more seamless data and application integrations; Implement a modern Point of Sale platform to elevate the in-store experience.

Lamboy concluded: "These initiatives represent the next wave of Claire’s transformation, where technology becomes not just an enabler but a growth engine. I’m deeply proud of the partnership, innovation, and accountability across our teams. What we’ve accomplished is impressive, but it’s only the beginning."

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Store technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.