The Event

Retail Technology Show 2026 London · Apr 22–23 2026

RTS 2026 brought 15,000+ retail professionals, 125+ speakers and 450+ solution providers to ExCeL London, embracing a disco-themed rebrand to cover AI, retail tech and store innovation with a deliberately high-energy format. Agentic commerce featured strongly, with M&S digital lead Paul Sims among the speakers discussing AI's practical retail applications.

This is a Skip for direct cross-border relevance: it's a large, broad retail tech audience solving domestic UK problems rather than actively planning market entry. Worth a light-touch look for electronics brands given occasional relevant crossover, such as the Aroma Zone beauty example, but not a primary event for tax, compliance or logistics topics.

View event site → What this means for EU expansion

The Room

Who was in the room at RTS

RTS draws UK and European retail technology decision-makers across store operations, ecommerce and digital transformation, alongside the vendors building the tools they're evaluating. The high-energy format doesn't dilute the seniority of the audience making real technology decisions.

Most attendees are UK retailers solving domestic technology problems rather than brands actively entering new markets, so this is a large general-interest event rather than a targeted cross-border one. It still surfaces occasional relevant conversations, particularly in electronics and beauty verticals.

Retail technology leaders Digital transformation directors Store operations leads AI & retail tech vendors

For a growing brand seeking the next step up, was Retail Technology Show (RTS) 2026 a good fit?

A light-touch look makes sense for electronics brands; not recommended as a primary event for tax, compliance or logistics topics.

Retail Technology Leaders

Senior UK and European retailers evaluating AI and store technology.

Digital Transformation Directors

Leading store innovation and AI adoption programs for major retailers.

AI & Retail Tech Vendors

450+ solution providers showcasing agentic commerce and store tech.

Programme

What RTS told us

Three themes stood out from a program covering AI, store innovation and digital transformation.

Agentic commerce moved into mainstream UK retail conversation

M&S digital lead Paul Sims discussing agentic commerce reflects how quickly AI agents have moved from concept to boardroom priority for major UK retailers.

Beauty and specialty categories are early AI adopters

French beauty brand Aroma Zone was featured as a named example during Beauty week coverage, showing specialty retail categories moving quickly on AI-driven personalization.

Scale confirmed RTS as the UK's leading retail tech gathering

With 15,000+ professionals and 450+ solution providers, RTS remains the primary place UK retailers benchmark technology decisions for the year ahead.

Live Intelligence

What's being said about RTS 2026

Coverage of RTS 2026 centered on agentic commerce reaching major UK retailers and specialty categories moving quickly on AI personalization.

Agentic commerce is now a boardroom topic at major UK retailers

RTS 2026 PROGRAM · APR 2026

M&S's own digital leadership discussing agentic commerce on stage signals this has moved well beyond early experimentation for established UK retailers. For a US brand entering the UK, the customer experience bar these retailers set now applies to any new entrant too.

Beauty brands are among the fastest AI adopters in retail

RTS 2026 PROGRAM · APR 2026

French beauty brand Aroma Zone's featured Beauty week presence highlighted how quickly specialty categories are adopting AI-driven personalization compared to broader retail.

Cross-border relevance is thin

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · JUL 2026

RTS covers AI and store/digital transformation rather than international expansion specifically. Worth a light-touch look for electronics brands, not a primary cross-border event, an honest downgrade from the event's headline scale.

Expandly perspective

What RTS 2026 means for your expansion

RTS confirmed that major UK retailers like M&S have already raised the AI and customer experience bar for the entire market. A US brand entering the UK isn't just competing on product, it's competing against an AI-driven experience customers now expect from established retailers.

Agentic commerce adoption at major UK retailers sets a customer experience benchmark any new entrant needs to plan around.
Specialty categories like beauty are moving fastest on AI personalization, a useful signal for brands in those segments.
None of this technology investment matters if the operational basics, VAT (value-added tax), compliance and fulfillment, aren't in place first.
UK compliance and VAT registration are separate from the EU post-Brexit, requiring their own setup regardless of technology sophistication.
Treat RTS as market intelligence rather than a cross-border networking venue, its scale is real but its audience is largely domestic UK retailers, not brands actively expanding cross-border.

A great AI-driven customer experience means nothing if the product can't legally reach the customer or arrive on time. Expandly builds that operational foundation, VAT, compliance and fulfillment, so the technology investment actually has somewhere to land.

UK compliance is separate from the EU post-Brexit

The UK operates its own VAT, customs and compliance regime distinct from the EU, so a UK launch and an EU launch each need their own registration and setup.

Separate regimes UK and EU VAT and compliance since Brexit

Major UK retailers have raised the AI experience bar

With M&S's digital leadership discussing live agentic commerce deployment, the customer experience bar for any UK market entrant has moved higher.

Live deployment agentic commerce at major UK retailers, per RTS speaker commentary

One partner, not a stack of vendors

Brands juggling a UK VAT agent, a compliance advisor and a fulfillment provider separately lose time to coordination. GEP™ runs it as one sequenced operation instead.

GEP™ one method, compliance to fulfillment

Good to Know

Questions about RTS 2026

What did Retail Technology Show 2026 actually cover?

RTS 2026 brought 15,000+ professionals to ExCeL London with a disco-themed rebrand, covering AI, agentic commerce and store innovation, including M&S digital lead Paul Sims discussing live AI deployment and beauty brand Aroma Zone featured during Beauty week.

Is RTS worth attending for a US brand entering the UK?

RTS is one of the UK's leading retail technology events, making it valuable for reading the AI and customer experience bar set by major UK retailers before launching there, even though it's not a direct sales channel into the UK market.

Who attends Retail Technology Show?

RTS draws UK and European retail technology leaders, digital transformation directors and store operations leads, alongside 450+ AI and retail tech vendors, in a large-scale, free-to-attend expo format.

Does selling in the UK cover me for the EU too?

No. The UK left the EU's single market, so UK and EU compliance, VAT (value-added tax) and customs rules are handled separately. A UK presence doesn't automatically extend to EU markets, and each requires its own registration and fulfillment plan.

Is RTS a good event for cross-border expansion topics?

Not primarily. It's a large, broad retail technology audience mostly solving domestic UK problems, thin for direct cross-border relevance despite its scale, though occasional relevant conversations do surface in verticals like electronics and beauty.

Make Your Move

Ready to meet the AI experience bar?

If RTS confirmed the customer experience bar in the UK has moved higher, the operational foundation behind it, VAT, compliance, fulfillment, still needs to be right first.

Expandly handles the parts that hold US brands back in the UK: VAT (value-added tax) registration, compliance, marketplace listings, and fulfillment from our Netherlands warehouse for onward EU reach. It's one sequenced operation, built on the Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™), rather than five vendors to manage yourself. Want to talk through what a UK launch would look like for your brand?