RTS 2026: focus on leadership in uncertain times amid technology, economic and resiliency challenges

“I’ve been in retail all my life. It’s never been tougher,” said Nigel Oddy, CEO at American Golf, during a conference panel at Retail Technology Show 2026 in London last week.

He was joined by fellow CEO Peter Fabricius (Magasin du Nord); the founder of AllSaints, Stuart Trevor; and Graham Broomfield, Managing Director at Austen & Blake, in a wide ranging debate about the state of UK retail, moderated by consumer champion, Martin Newman.  

American Golf went through a turnaround from 2023 onwards. Oddy renegotiated contracts with landlords to refloat the firm and get better rates and reform the now 80-strong store estate for the firm, which has a third of the UK retail golf market. It is now under the ownership of Peter Jones, a well known investor and Dragons Den TV show star.

“We spoke to our suppliers during the tough times. All our partners were absolutely key in getting going and improving our resiliency,” said Oddy. “I’ve been CEO of five businesses that have had to refinance. Getting the vision right is crucial, which for us means being the one-stop shop for everything golf related.”

The challenges are only multiplying now with retailers facing a myriad of rising costs, emanating from minimum wage and NI employment rises through to the Iran war and the rising oil prices and supply chain shocks that it is causing, and resultant inflationary pressures. These will undoubtedly restart the cost of living crisis and could adversely impact sales in many discretionary spend sectors.

Culture and performance 

 “It’s also important to get the culture right in a good business and to have a good team behind you, as culture and performance are inextricably linked,” added Oddy, who has already rescued his present business, partly by instituting a VIP programme to prioritise customer experience as part of the turnaround at American Golf.

He has focused on: Staff training to help improve CX and business performance overall; The look of stores; Technology.      

“We only invest though (in these uncertain times) if it gives us RoI and our customers more,” said Oddy. “For example, it’s not just about whacking a ball at a golf driving range anymore. Customers want swing speed, trajectory and other analytical data. They want swing analysis as well before buying a club in order to discover if they’re a slicer or a hooker.”

Trained staff can help customers make these decisions and drive profit. Technology, personalisation data, and the individual all coalesce in this instance.   

“Data visibility is key,” said Broomfield. It can help fix problems, hold people accountable vis-à-vis culture, aid customer acquisition, and so forth.

Data and customer acquisition

On that point, Trevor talked about how expensive customer acquisition is now. “Unfortunately, we have to pay Mark Zuckerberg a fortune nowadays for customer acquisition,” he said, somewhat shockingly.

Trevor also pointed out, however, that it isn’t always necessary to spend big on marketing if you concentrate on the eternal fundamentals of good retailing. This means engaging your customers via good offers, CX, brand loyalty events and so on.

“We try to avoid it (giving Zuckerberg money) by doing customer events with in-store drinks with music DJs, and so forth. When I was involved with Reiss and AllSaints in the early days this attracted lots of 20-year-olds who grew into high earning customers. Don’t become an old man in your approach,” he joked, while stressing that the fundamentals of retail don’t change even in this tech driven age.     

“I’ve a tech guy who handles all of that, AI, provides appropriate tools, IT systems and so forth, of course. But frankly it isn’t my cup of tea,” continued Trevor. “I focus on the fundamentals.” In retail that means brand, CX, price, service, delivery, and so on.   

Fabricius agreed with this somewhat in that he too favours an experiential approach. “It’s not all about TikTok,” he said. “Facebook can target mum and dad, and traditional email is still a strong tool as well when your messaging, frequency and events are correct.”

That assumes that your customer and other data is sufficiently ordered as well, which aligns with Broomfield’s earlier point about data being key in today’s world.    

“Marketing costs so much now,” continued Fabricius, returning to the customer acquisition issue. “It’s £50-60 to get a new customer sometimes. That might be OK if you’re penetrating a new market but it’s a challenge.”      

Cost challenges and AI  

It’s particularly galling to give money to third parties during the present cost of living crisis and uncertain times for retailers’ supply chains and economic prospects. There are major cost pressures in retail at present, which were earlier addressed at RTS 2026 by M&S Chairman, Archie Norman.

“I’d cut waste before good marketing or reducing staff training,” said Broomfield, when questioned by Newman about how best to respond to these pressures.

AI can increase automation, cut headcounts and efficiency, but only if it’s deployed well, agreed Broomfield, while stressing that you still need to invest in training your remaining people to use it well.

“There are maybe 200 technology vendors selling AI on the exhibition floor here at RTS 2026. There is a lot of noise about it,” he said. “But it has to ‘touch the customer well’, by which I mean find their order, answer a question, improve targeting, and so on.”  

For all the talk, Fabricius perhaps summed it up best when he reminded the RTS 2026 audience before it departed the ExCel venue in London that: “The best way to solve your problems is growth! You cannot cost cut your way to success.”

That is true and pertinent to Trevor’s earlier point about focusing on the fundamentals of retail. That is going to be necessary in these uncertain, challenging times.   

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI and automation will be key focus areas at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and 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 Wednesday, 4th November.

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.