Shoptalk Europe 2025:
Fashion Retail's Reset
in Motion

Shoptalk Europe in Barcelona is over, and I am taking a moment to sit down and reflect on those 3 inspiring days. The conversations we had at our booth, the little chats in between – they signal where fashion retail is headed.

Being part of the MACH Alliance stand placed us right in the centre of the industry’s most urgent transformation discussions – tech replatforming, data quality, and the (often harsh) reality check facing traditional approaches to eCommerce – and most importantly, AI. But what made this year’s Shoptalk different wasn’t the technology. It was the tone of the dialogue. Less speculative. More focused. And refreshingly honest about the challenges retailers need to tackle.

A Booth That Encouraged Real Talk

The energy around the Mapp space wasn’t just about footfall. More than being busy, we found ourselves deep in dialogue. Retailers, agencies, solution partners – all were looking for answers to pressing questions about profitability, customer experience, and capability gaps in their current tech stacks.

Barcelona provided the backdrop, but what stood out was the business readiness of those attending. Gone are the days of vague “innovation scouting.” Instead, I heard focused questions: “How do we put the best products in front of the best customers?”, “How do we deliver personalised experiences at scale?” or “What will this do to our returns problem?”.

What did this tell me? That the industry is speaking real-talk, and ready to act before it’s too late for their business.

What Am I Taking Home

Two things particularly stood out to me during this years’ Shoptalk:

• Events as Strategic Touchpoints: The evening gatherings and informal chats proved just as valuable as the formal meetings. While sponsoring the MACH Alliance Drinks at Soho House Barcelona, some of our most promising conversations began over a glass of wine. While the location was stunning, it was more the quiet moments that allowed people to lower their guard and talk openly about what’s working and what isn’t.
• Product tagging is the talk of the town – but how can it be done right? The topic came up in nearly every conversation, yet few had clarity on what “right” looks like. The appetite is there, but it is mixed with confusion. Fashion retailers are realising that enriching product data isn’t just a back-end fix; it’s a strategic capability that powers everything from marketing performance to on-site experience. The challenge? Doing it in a way that reflects how customers actually speak, search and shop. That’s where a human component makes a real difference in between the AI buzz.

Patterns That Emerged From The Conversations

It’s always revealing when you start to hear the same challenges surface across different brands, markets, and roles. These themes were dominating the conversations I had:

1. Product Data is a Strategic Asset – When It’s Done Right

Poor quality product attribution is no longer just an eCommerce nuisance, but a commercial blocker. From merchandising to CRM to paid media, retailers are struggling to extract value from their existing tools because the foundational data isn’t scalable.

We had multiple requests for proofs of concept on product and outfit-level enrichment, particularly from teams frustrated by the limitations of their PIMs or the opacity of their marketplace syndication. More than once, I heard a version of this sentence: “We know what’s broken, we just haven’t had the right partner to fix it.”

2. AI Needs to Be Rooted into Fashion Realities

Obviously, AI was everywhere – but many brands have grown sceptical. They have seen first optimisation attempts fail, due to poor product data or generic approaches. The promise of automation and intelligence is still powerful, but the execution falls short when it doesn’t account for the specific nuances of fashion.

Retailers are excited about the opportunities of agentic AI in fashion product discovery, however are well aware of the need for better product attribution with additional occasion and style attributes to ensure their products are found.

What resonated was not just that our solution uses artificial intelligence – but rather that it’s using fashion-specific taxonomy and comes with a human touch of real industry experts and stylists. Retailers don’t want generic engines that treat trousers like tech gadgets, as tech gadget don’t come with different waistlines. They want systems that understand context, occasion, silhouette, trends and can use that understanding to shape decisions from product listing to email content.

From Segments to Mindsets: A More Nuanced View of The Customer

Another common thread I heard about is the inadequacy of traditional segmentation. Retailers are increasingly looking to understand not just who the customer is, but why they’re here. Are they browsing? Gift-hunting? Looking for something specific but unsure what it’s called?

The concept of intent-driven personalisation sparked a great deal of interest. It’s not just about showing the right product. It’s about recognising the emotional state of the shopper – whether they’re in inspiration mode or decision mode – and adapting the experience accordingly. This requires intent-aware data structures and technology that can act on them in real time.

Closing Thoughts

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to engage with us – at the stand, in meetings, at night events, or in passing. Your feedback, questions, and curiosity help sharpen our focus and reinforce why we do what we do.

The Shoptalk conversations are just a beginning. Whether you’re navigating MACH transitions, wrestling with messy fashion product data, or looking to unify customer experience across channels, we are here to support you from day 1. Because in today’s retail landscape, clarity isn’t a luxury – it’s a competitive advantage.

Hope to see you in July for our very own industry event: Fashion Decoded!