Retail technology innovation of the week: Tesco and Adobe claim step-change for modern personalisation

Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, and sponsored by 3D Cloud, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.

Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, alongside the publication of the 2026 report later this year.

And this week we’re focusing on Adobe and Tesco who have announced an AI partnership that aims to improve the shopping experience for customers with personalised prompts that offer individual recommendations, ideas and deals.

This includes a Tesco x Adobe Innovation Lab which will see the latter’s engineers working alongside the former’s personalisation and AI teams.

With more than 24 million Clubcard households, Tesco has established one of the largest loyalty and reward schemes in UK retail, with millions of customers receiving offers, product recommendations and recipe ideas.

Through its partnership with Adobe, it aims to accelerate personal engagement and improve the service it offers customers. Using technology like Adobe’s agentic AI capabilities and Adobe Firefly Foundry, Tesco’s personalisation and AI teams will be able to use its customer intelligence responsibly to help it to better anticipate customers’ needs, in order to serve up personalised content, offers and experiences across its digital channels.

“We want customers to feel that the more they use their Clubcard, the more use it is to them. Working with Adobe, we can be even more responsive to the needs of shoppers. We can act in the moment, getting the right messages, savings or ideas to the right customers, just when they need them,” says Becky Brock, Tesco Group Customer Digital Transformation Director.

"Our focus is always on finding ways to surprise and delight our customers, and the partnership with Adobe gives us more ways to do that - using AI to benefit our customers with shopping experiences that are genuinely personalised, convenient and helpful.

“The combination of Tesco’s unmatched customer relationships and Adobe’s AI capabilities is a genuine step-change for modern retail personalisation. Few retailers anywhere in the world have built the depth of trust and knowledge that Tesco has - and together, we can connect that foundation with AI powered solutions that deliver smarter journeys and more personal customer experiences at an unprecedented scale,” says Nathan Hancock, Vice President and Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa,  Adobe.

And honourable mentions this week to...

Dollar General

Dollar General has announced the roll-out of an AI enabled in-store audio network across approximately 6,000 DG stores in 48 US states.

Through a new partnership with QSIC, Dollar General says it will deliver more relevant, localised and measurable audio experiences to customers while providing brand partners with accountable, data driven advertising across its retail footprint.

This deployment will double DG’s existing in-store audio presence and increase measurement capabilities, bringing the total number of DG stores with in-store audio capabilities to 12,000 in Q2 2026.

“We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to help brands meaningfully connect with our customers, and by introducing an AI powered in-store audio network, we’re unlocking an entirely new layer of relevancy and accountability in the shopping experience,” says Austin Leonard, Vice President and General Manager at DG Media Network.

“This platform allows us to deliver localised, real-time messaging at scale across the thousands of communities we serve, especially in underserved and often overlooked rural areas. It’s a powerful way to create value for our brand partners while enhancing the in-store experience for the millions of customers who rely on Dollar General every day through more relevant, contextual messaging designed to add value, not noise, to their shopping trip.”

Frasers

Frasers Group has launched Ask Frasers, an AI online shopping assistant across the Frasers website, a fashion and lifestyle brand formerly known as House of Fraser. Since implementing the tool, it says that conversion rates have increased by up to 25% compared to traditional search experiences.

Powered by Algolia’s agentic technology, it calls on external LLMs and interprets product data - from key features and availability to real-time popularity signals - with the aim of delivering precise, conversational answers tailored to each shopper’s needs.

Richard Lallo, Group Head of Customer Marketing at Frasers Group, comments: “We are committed to enhancing the customer journey, from discovery through to conversion, by creating innovative solutions that give shoppers a connected, relevant and efficient shopping experience.”

“The launch of Ask Frasers marks an important step forward in this mission, enabling us to over a faster, smarter and more seamless way to shop our premium fashion and lifestyle offering, reinforcing our belief that intelligent technology is shaping the future of retail.”

The move builds on the brand’s recent relaunch, which saw it officially rebrand as Frasers and unveil television presenter Cat Deeley as the face of its Spring 2026 campaign.