As retailers continue to explore how technology can be used in the shopping experience, Debenhams Group is partnering with PayPal to roll out an AI shopping service.
The group includes brands Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN and Karen Millen, and customers will be able to discover products, receive personalized recommendations and check them all out within the PayPal app.
The US fintech giant is testing the AI assistant in a pilot program in its domestic market and plans to roll it out more broadly in both the US and UK later this year.
The new partnership will allow shoppers using the PayPal app’s AI assistant to browse the Debenhams Group catalogue, with the agent system acting as a kind of concierge.
“At Debenhams Group, our aim is to make shopping as easy and enjoyable as possible, while enabling our customers to discover and be inspired by new products and brands. This kind of innovation has the potential to fundamentally change online retail, in a way we haven’t seen since the shift to mobile shopping,” said Dan Finley, CEO of Debenhams Group.
“We are proud to be the first UK retailer to partner with PayPal on this experience, which gives customers a faster, more intuitive way to shop across our brands.”
The launch is part of Debenhams Group’s broader AI plans, including automated sales forecasting, inventory and pricing, and the launch of an in-house AI skills academy.
“With Agent Commerce, shopping becomes a conversation, not a search,” said Mike Edmonds, vice president of Agent Commerce at PayPal.
“By building AI-powered discovery and checkout directly into the PayPal app, we help customers move seamlessly from inspiration to purchase, while giving retailers like Debenhams Group a powerful new way to engage shoppers at scale. It’s exciting to be working with the UK’s established retail group to bring this technology to market.”
Retailers are increasingly exploring AI shopping experiences. Last month, UK-based sportswear group JD Sports became one of the first major brands to allow customers to buy directly from chatbots including Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT.
