JD Sports Fashion's Dan McGrath looks back at 2025 store roll-outs, RFID pushes

Dan McGrath, JD Group Head of Customer Operations at JD Sports Fashion, has taken to social media to discuss how the retailer fared in 2025, a year that included major store roll-outs and RFID initiatives.

In a LinkedIn post, McGrath said: “It was a year of real professional and personal growth but more importantly, a year defined by people. None of what we achieved happened through strategy or technology alone.”

“It happened because of an exceptional, multi-skilled team who trusted each other, challenged constructively, and showed up every day with pace, care and pride in what we were building. My role was simply to create the space, direction and belief. They did the rest.”

2025 highlights included:

Building and winning support for a compelling business case, securing full Investment board sign-off.

Designed, led and delivered a multi-million-pound, cross-functional programme which was on time, on budget and delivering against ROI KPIs.

Took a PoC to full enterprise roll-out in 76 working days, aligning legal, supply chain, IT, infosec, tech, retail and training around a single outcome.

Delivered to 414 stores across the UK and Ireland in 16 weeks, sustaining a pace of 25 stores per week without compromising quality.

Created and delivered a fully immersive, week long change and culture programme on RFID, enabling 26 retail Change Champions to lead from the front.

Partnered closely with brand partners, taking RFID from education and advocacy through to adoption into 2026.

McGrath commented: “I’m also grateful for the personal recognition this year not as an individual achievement, but as a reflection of the teams and cultures I’m fortunate to be part of: Top 100 Retail Voice from Retail Technology Innovation Hub; Top 50 Voice in Customer Experience from CX Alliance; Judge, RTIH AI in Retail Awards.”

Looking ahead to 2026, plans include a 600-store, 12 country European roll-out, alongside deeper, more embedded RFID operations across every store touchpoint “led by empowered people, not just technology”.

McGrath concluded: “Rome wasn’t built in a day… but they probably didn’t have my team working on it. Thank you to all the suppliers we have worked with this year, especially Checkpoint Systems, Zebra Technologies and Renovotec.”

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