Retailers should balance rapid innovation with operational resilience while embracing emerging technologies such as agentic AI and evolving loyalty strategies, according to Lynda Petherick, chief operating officer at New Look.

Speaking at the Retail Technology Show in London, Petherick gave an insight into how New Look is using AI and data to transform its business.

“Technology has to work, and it has to work all the time,” she said, underlining the importance of digital infrastructure in modern retail. With businesses relying heavily on interconnected platforms, she warned that any loss of focus on core performance and stability could undermine wider transformation efforts.

Alongside this, Petherick pointed to the growing role of agentic AI as a key area of opportunity, stating that it can change how businesses operate in areas including customer service and operations. Using agentic AI requires strong governance, clear understanding of system behaviour, and careful integration into existing processes. Without this, Petherick said businesses risk introducing new vulnerabilities into already complex ecosystems.

She highlighted the importance of creating meaningful, data-driven relationships with customers to increase loyalty and shared that New Look has capitalised on its data to create a loyalty scheme which has grown to over one million users since it launched.

Petherick also urged businesses to prioritise flexibility, ensuring that systems can be adapted or replaced if they fail to deliver. “Think carefully about interchangeability,” she said, warning against becoming locked into rigid solutions that limit future innovation.

She described cyber resilience as “non-negotiable,” particularly as retailers deploy more advanced technologies and handle increasing volumes of customer data. Petherick made clear that accountability for cyber security must sit at the highest levels of the organisation.

“This is not something executives can delegate,” she said, and urged C-suite executives to engage more with cyber risk as the threat landscape becomes more complex and fast-moving.

Finally, Petherick framed the current period of change as “a revolution, not an evolution”, driven by technologies such as agentic AI and the reinvention of customer engagement through loyalty. To succeed, she urged retailers to identify and nurture internal “change makers” capable of leading transformation from within. “These people might feel lonely,” she said.



The Retail Technology Show is taking place at Excel London on 22 and 23 April.

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