First for Debenhams Group as it teams with PayPal on AI driven shopping experience in UK
Debenhams Group, home to PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN, Karen Millen and Debenhams, has partnered with PayPal on an AI driven shopping experience, becoming the first retailer in the UK to enable customers to discover, receive personalised recommendations and check out entirely within the PayPal app.
PayPal is currently testing the AI assistant with select US customers, where it has also been integrated with AI tools such as Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with a broader US and UK launch planned later this year.
Shoppers can use an AI assistant within its platform to ask for product suggestions, explore relevant items and browse curated selections from brands including Karen Millen, boohoo and boohooMAN. Customers can then complete their purchase directly within the chat experience, with PayPal automatically using saved account details for home delivery.
Dan Finley, CEO at Debenhams Group, says: "Our goal is to help customers discover and be inspired by new products and brands, while making shopping as easy and enjoyable as possible.”
“This kind of innovation has the potential to fundamentally transform online retail; in a way we haven’t seen since the shift to mobile shopping. We’re proud to be the first UK retailer to partner with PayPal on this experience, bringing a faster, more intuitive way to shop to customers across our brands.”
Mike Edmonds, VP of Agentic Commerce at PayPal, says: “With agentic commerce, shopping becomes a conversation, not a search. By embedding AI powered discovery and checkout directly into the PayPal app, we’re helping customers move seamlessly from inspiration to purchase, while giving retailers like Debenhams Group a powerful new way to engage shoppers at scale. It’s exciting to collaborate with an established UK retail group to bring this technology to market."
RTIH AI in Retail Awards
Brarista, IBM Consulting, Foundit!, Quorso, Vusion, Sensei, Reckon.ai, EE, Walkbase, Globant, Riskified, and Goddiva were among the winners at the RTIH AI in Retail Awards, sponsored by VenHub Global, 3D Cloud, EdTech Innovation Hub, and Retail Technology Show.
Our 2026 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 29th January, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Lucy Porter.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “According to Amazon’s Andy Jassy: AI is a once in a lifetime reinvention of everything we know, and the largest technology transformation since the cloud.”
“Whether that’s overstating it or not, we're certainly seeing an increasing number of innovative, potentially game changing developments in this space across both traditional and digital retail spaces. And that is reflected in tonight's finalists, who are boosting customer experiences and tackling retailers' painpoints across the likes of physical stores, online, omnichannel, supply chain, and payments.”
“To quote one of our judges: I have to admit, judging these awards was so difficult. So many that would have been worthy winners. And great to see how AI has moved firmly into delivery mode. Firmly into delivering for customers and driving huge innovation.”
Congratulations to our 2026 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended our Thursday, 29th January gathering.
Stay tuned for an indepth review of the awards ceremony in the next edition of RTIH magazine.
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