2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Digital Transformation Project of the Year finalists announced
We’re pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Digital Transformation Project of the Year category. We received a record number of entries this year and many fantastic examples of technology excellence driving transformative change across the global retail sector.
Check out a rundown of our 2026 shortlists and finalists here.
Congratulations to all those who made it through the initial submission process! It’s now over to our star studded judging panel who will decide the winners to be announced at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London.
The event will be held on Wednesday, 4th November and consist of a drinks reception, three course meal, awards ceremony presided over by award winning stand-up comedian, presenter, actor and broadcaster, Aurie Styla, and after party until 1am.
Click here to book your place at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, 4th November.
Our 2026 Digital Transformation Project of the Year finalists as follows:
Ann Summers and PMC
Ann Summers partnered with PMC to modernise its core IT infrastructure after years of legacy development had left its tech stack complicated, expensive to maintain and difficult to manage, slowing innovation and creating operational friction.
Dunelm and VoCoVo
Dunelm is transforming its in-store communications infrastructure by upgrading from legacy Series 3 to VoCoVo Series 5 Pro Headsets across its stores. The new devices are elevating customer experience, day-to-day reliability and enabling improved comfort, while creating a platform for AI powered features that change the way colleagues operate and respond to customer queries.
At the same time, VoCoVo has integrated real-time operational alerts with Dunelm’s self-checkouts, sending sub-second alerts to colleagues’ headsets when assistance is needed to reduce void transactions and abandoned purchases.
East of England Co-op and Transaction Network Services (TNS)
East of England Co-op operated more than 200 sites on a fragmented, multi-vendor network with failover times of up to 90 seconds. Working with Transaction Network Services (TNS), the retailer deployed TNS Secure SD-WAN to consolidate its connectivity into a single, resilient platform with built-in redundancy.
Failover is now instantaneous, and the retailer has eliminated visible downtime during network incidents. Centralised dashboards have strengthened compliance and security oversight, while a single managed service has reduced operational complexity and delivered estimated savings of 10-15% through vendor consolidation.
Fortnum & Mason and Proximity
For more than 300 years Fortnum & Mason has been known for exceptional personal service. Earlier this year, Proximity and Fortnum & Mason launched 'Fortnum’s Connect' to bring that service to customers wherever they are.
The platform gives store teams a clear view of each customer’s purchases, preferences and conversations, helping them make relevant recommendations, stay in touch beyond the store and serve customers around the world through remote payments and global delivery. Since launching the platform, Fortnum & Mason has built a client book of more than 1,200 high value customers, whose average transaction value is 630% above the company average.
Intersport Elverys and Rezolve Ai
Intersport Elverys, Ireland’s oldest sports retailer, has transformed its online merchandising in partnership with Rezolve Ai; replacing manual, rules-based work with automated product placement across the site and its search results.
MKM Building Supplies and Commerce
MKM has transformed its digital proposition to make purchasing and account management simpler for trade customers, while strengthening the connection between digital and its nationwide branch network.
Working with Commerce, MKM has built a modern, composable commerce platform designed around complex B2B requirements, including personalised pricing, account terms, credit, quotes, invoices and fulfilment. More than 60,000 SKUs are now available online, while the platform is delivering a 4.1% conversion rate and £125 average order value. By modernising its technology while retaining its service led model, MKM has created a more flexible and connected experience for trade customers.
Paul Smith and Sitoo
Paul Smith transformed its international store technology with Sitoo’s cloud native Unified Commerce Platform, anchored by PoS. Rolled out across 30+ stores in eight countries in three months, the project replaced legacy store technology with a connected platform supporting fixed and mobile selling, real-time inventory visibility, customer recognition and cross-channel operations.
The transformation has changed both the customer experience and everyday store operations: associates can spend more time with customers, transactions are faster, store processes have been simplified and manual administration reduced. The result is a modern store platform designed around how Paul Smith wants its teams to serve customers.
The Body Shop and GoPlaces
The Body Shop had deep high street and direct-to-consumer roots but no operating model for social commerce. So GoPlaces built one. It deployed its technology, OnePlace, for the data foundation, created an affiliate creator network at scale, and ran professional live retail from its studios.
GMV grew 15x from launch to peak month, with 177% month-on-month growth through peak gifting season and more than 27 million affiliate video views across 20,400-plus creator videos. A heritage retailer now trades a channel it had no way of measuring before. For The Body Shop this isn’t just marketing campaigns; it’s a new operating model.
THG Ingenuity
In October 2025, THG Ingenuity and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership. This focused on combining Google Cloud’s generative AI and data analytics products with THG Ingenuity’s end-to-end commerce and fulfilment capabilities with a goal of accelerating product innovation, delivering step change outcomes for customers, and opening new go to market opportunities.
As part of this, THG Ingenuity committed to move its e-commerce and fulfilment platform from four on-premise datacentres to Google Cloud, combining platform modernisation, governance, and future product growth into one operating model.
WHSmith and SOLUM
WHSmith and SOLUM are supporting a new benchmark for travel essentials retail through Newton Pro electronic shelf labels at WHSmith’s flagship stores across Heathrow Terminals 3, 4 and 5.
The stores bring food, health and beauty, technology, pharmacy services and other essentials together in a one stop shop travel destination. Digital shelf-edge communication enables faster, more consistent pricing and promotional updates, helping travellers navigate with confidence while supporting WHSmith’s ambition to make every journey better.
