Chloe Rigby hears from Paula Bobbett, chief digital officer at RetailX UK500 Elite retailer Boots, about how the health and beauty retailer is using technology to inspire its shoppers.
Boots UK is harnessing the power of AI and data as it focuses on the omnichannel customer experience. The health and beauty retailer, ranked Elite in the RetailX UK500 2025, is using both in new ways as it responds to the changing ways that its customers now want to buy – online, instore and through its mobile app.
In doing so, Boots is tapping into the data of the 16.9mn customers who are active members of its Advantage Card loyalty programme. It’s gaining fresh understandings of shopper behaviour while also exploring new uses for AI.
“The pandemic sped up the trend we were all already seeing for customers shifting their shopping behaviours online,” says Paula Bobbett, chief digital officer at Boots UK. “For Boots, like most other retailers, that trend has permanently changed our business model. We are prioritising the omnichannel experience for customers, ensuring consistency however they choose to shop.”
She notes that: “Customers can benefit from our diverse offering, depending on what’s best for them. This includes instore, online, through the Boots app – which now represents 40% of our digital sales – or using the next-day click-and-collect service, available at more than 1,600 stores. We’ve really focused on updating and evolving our digital offer to complement our stores and the services we offer.”
One example of that is Boots’ shift from an instore-only pharmacy to a patient-first healthcare business, with retail pharmacy and healthcare services both available through its online platform.
This is part of a wider digital transformation at Boots, which includes the ongoing re-platforming of its boots.com website. “We’ve made hundreds of technical upgrades in the last few years, as well as investing significantly in our supply chain, rolling out UK-first automation in our warehouses,” says Bobbett. “While we recognise that there is always room for improvement, the business has made huge progress to enhance our digital proposition for customers.”
From data to AI
Boots’ UK customers have been able to join its Advantage Card loyalty programme since 1997. Today, with about 16.9mn active members and integrated into the Boots UK mobile app, the scheme is one of the most widely used in the UK. This, says Bobbett, “gives us a unique insight into how our customers want to shop with Boots and what they want to buy, allowing us to target customers based on their shopping needs and behaviours.” She is particularly interested in how this data can be put to work “with a purpose-led approach”. Bobbett adds: “There are already examples from where data can be used – with consent – to drive better outcomes on healthcare, with a study taking shopping behaviours around pain relief medicines to support the early detection of ovarian cancer.”
Boots is also exploring how it can deploy AI technology to benefit shoppers. “Most businesses are not only wondering, but also have teams of experts working on, how they can use the rapid advancement of AI technology to their advantage,” says Bobbett. “At Boots, we’re not just limiting this to improving systems, stock replenishment and reordering but also focusing on how we can improve the customer experience.
“We’re investing in our internal AI-driven chatbot solution which has been exceptional in efficiently helping customers with product and order queries. These are by no means a replacement for real human interaction. Instead, we want to understand how AI can undertake more straightforward interactions, allowing our team to focus on complex, relationship-building conversations.”
Last year, for example, the Boots Product Finder launched. “[This is] a first of its kind online personal shopper tool powered by AI, says Bobbett. “In addition to helping customers find products, it can also answer a broad range of health and beauty-related questions, including with credible pharmacist-approved guidance.”
Looking ahead
Boots’ digital vision of the future is of a seamless, personalised omnichannel customer experience. It is now investing to achieve this.
“While we’re excited by the opportunities that our continued digital transformation will offer us,” says Bobbett, “we understand there are a variety of challenges to overcome too – not only that of trading in a challenging environment, but while also undertaking our biggest ever digital transformation.”
She adds: “We’re putting a significant amount of investment into a brand-new digital platform that will revolutionise our online offer, enabling seamless and personalised omnichannel service.
“This will bring together our retail and healthcare offering into one fully coordinated website and transform the customer experience, with connected journeys across all touch points, a faster website and app, more convenient delivery options, an unrivalled product range and greater personalisation.“
Asked for a single piece of advice for other retailers, Bobbett cites: “The power of adaptability. Having a more composable architecture for our platform means we can quickly respond to customer feedback. This has allowed us to optimise our platform for our customers’ bespoke needs.”
This interview was conducted for the RetailX UK500 2025 report. The 11th edition of this annual report lists the 500 leading ecommerce and multichannel retailers, brands and marketplaces that sell to the UK market.
It sets out the economic context in which they trade, before drawing on RetailX’s ConsumerX research for insights into how UK shoppers would prefer to buy, as well as how they actually buy in practice.
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