Matalan’s COO explains how customer-first thinking, staff involvement, and upgraded in-store tech are reshaping retail operations and improving customer experience across its UK stores.
At Retail Technology Show 2026 in ExCeL London, Chief Operating Officer at Matalan Phil Hackney speaking alongside Chief Retail Officer Katherine Davis laid out what many operators quietly know but rarely say out loud: most failing retail tech projects don’t fail because of technology. They fail because they lose sight of the customer.
Matalan’s own starting point was far from perfect. The business, long constrained by underinvestment, was running on outdated systems across its store estate. That changed after fresh private equity backing unlocked a full-scale transformation. But as Hackney made clear, money alone doesn’t fix execution.
The retailer is now midway through a sweeping overhaul of stores, with 30 locations refreshed last year and another 40 planned this year. At the core of this effort is a new EPoS system delivered in partnership with Toshiba, designed to improve speed and simplify transactions. Considering technology in retail stores, the Milton Keynes store has emerged as the standard working model of how faster checkouts and clearer in-store navigation can reshape customer experience.
The important thing to note is that, digital isn’t yet the main channel for Matalan. Less than 20 percent of its customers shop online, while more than 70 percent prefer self-scanning in store. That reality shifts the entire strategy. This implies speed at checkout isn’t just a small improvement or extra feature. It is the core of how customers judge the store.
COO Hackney’s main argument is simple but often ignored. If you want better outcomes, involve the people doing the work. Matalan brought store managers and frontline staff into the process early, even taking them to test systems in real world environments before selecting a vendor. It made employees support and accept the change
“People who do the job know what works,” Hackney says. Too many projects chase innovation for its own sake instead of solving actual problems on the shop floor.
He also spoke practically on partnerships. He believes that no new launch or new innovation is perfect and issues will come up. What matters is having a partner who fixes problems, not one who hides behind the contract. As Hackney put it, if a problem gets so bad that you have to check the contract details to argue about responsibility
With roughly 10 percent of its estate transformed, Matalan’s journey is still in motion as Business Fortune observes. But the lesson is already clear. Technology doesn’t turn businesses around. Execution does. And execution starts with people.
