Debenhams Group—the fashion retail behemoth behind high-street brands like Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN, and Karen Millen—is boosting its adoption of artificial intelligence in a move to fuel growth and revolutionise the customer experience.
The business has secured an extended multi-year deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to speed up the deployment of AI across its portfolio. The new extended partnership will look to simplify operations, speed up the development of new brands, and hone the group’s competitive advantage through scalable, AI-driven tools.
Having already drawn on AWS for cloud infrastructure on the Debenhams platform, the Group is now extending that by combining leading-edge technologies, such as generative AI. AWS’s serverless computing has facilitated Debenhams’ successful marketplace business model—enabling more efficient onboarding of third-party sellers, increasing product range, and streamlining the shopping experience.
And now, attention turns to tapping into generative AI capabilities through Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes it easier to build GenAI applications. With this technology, the company will be able to automate mass content generation—like product descriptions and multilingual translations—on tens of thousands of products. Product listings can thus be finished up to 20 times quicker, and beautifully translated into six languages, saving time to market and enhancing accessibility for customers around the world.
One of the innovations includes an AI-driven Room Styler feature, developed in collaboration under AWS Prototyping Investment Programme. The innovation enables users to upload room images, select design styles, and get tailored decor recommendations linked directly to shoppable products—merging inspiration and ease. The changes in AI-driven product taxonomy and attribution will also make search and product discovery easier, enabling shoppers to discover relevant products quicker and more effectively.
Having seen successful roll-out across the Debenhams estate, the AI deployment is now rolling out to the Group’s wider brand ecosystem, with boohoo most recently embracing AWS-enabled technologies in recent weeks.
Debenhams Group CEO Dan Finley highlighted the revolutionary aspect of the initiative, and stated that their partnership with AWS is at the heart of transforming Debenhams Group into a contemporary, technology-driven retailer. By transitioning from legacy systems to robust, adaptable cloud architecture, they’re setting the stage for long-term innovation. This investment in AI future-proofs their business, but also provides smarter, faster, and more personalised shopping experiences.
Finley also observed the collaboration is drawing top technology talent to the group, making it a place for digital innovation.
Echoing that sentiment, Duncan Stewart, Head of Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods for AWS UK & Ireland, said that Debenhams Group has already built a standout digital commerce platform. By leveraging AWS’s flexibility and scale, they’re now positioned to roll out cutting-edge AI products across all their brands, driving growth and boosting productivity. AWS is proud to support them on this journey.
