Summer 2026 Retail Roundup:

Consumers took a breather, live shopping attracted billions, the high street struggled with the heat and healthcare became retail's next big opportunity. And not an AI agent in sight. Well, almost.

Ah, summer. Holidays, sunshine, out-of-office replies and the annual British tradition of complaining that it's either too hot, too wet or somehow both.

And while I was enjoying some much-needed time away from the headlines, retail was busy doing what retail does. Changing, evolving and occasionally making me wonder what on earth is going on. Also, I'd noticed something about my retail roundups this year. No matter where I start, I somehow end up writing about artificial intelligence.

Every. Single. Month!

And frankly, I think we could all do with a little break.

So, in the spirit of summer holidays, I've decided to give AI a couple of months off. No shopping agents, no algorithmic promises of revolution, no breathless predictions about the future of everything.

There. I've mentioned it. We can move on...

Because looking back at July and August, there were plenty of other stories worth talking about. Consumers behaving rather unpredictably, billions flowing into businesses built around human recommendations, a high street struggling with the weather and some interesting developments in the business of keeping people healthy.

Let's get into it.

Consumers took a summer holiday. Well, their wallets did.

July wasn't exactly a spectacular month for US retailers. Retail sales fell 0.6%, according to the initial figures published in August, marking the largest monthly decline in more than a year.

Not ideal. Although, as is often the case with retail statistics, there's a little more to the story.

Amazon had moved Prime Day from July to June, pulling a substantial amount of online spending forward. The FIFA World Cup also contributed to an unusually busy June.

So perhaps July's disappointing figures weren't entirely unexpected.

And sure enough, August brought a rebound, with US retail sales initially reported to be up 1.2%.

A collective sigh of relief, no doubt.

Meanwhile, here in the UK, the picture was a little less encouraging. According to the British Retail Consortium's Retail Sales Monitor, sales grew by just 1.3% in July, slowing to 0.7% in August. Non-food sales declined in both months.

And yet, the back-to-school shopping season was still there, reminding retailers that some things simply can't be postponed.

Children need shoes. Uniforms need replacing. And somewhere, parents are discovering that last year's perfectly good school trousers have mysteriously become three inches too short.

It's interesting how quickly we jump between describing consumers as resilient and declaring them cautious, depending on what the latest sales figures tell us.

But I wonder whether we're sometimes overcomplicating something rather ordinary.

People are making choices. They might delay buying a new sofa but still book a holiday. Cut back on eating out but spend more on experiences. Shop around for everyday essentials while treating themselves to something they really want.

And when school starts in September, the shopping has to happen whether consumer confidence is up, down or somewhere in between.

Perhaps the question isn't whether consumers are spending. It's what they're choosing to spend on, and why.

Because not every purchase is competing on equal terms.

Apparently, watching other people shop is worth $20 billion.

Now here's a story I rather enjoyed.

In August, live shopping platform Whatnot announced that it had raised another $545 million, taking its valuation to an extraordinary $20 billion.

Twenty. Billion. Dollars! For a platform where people watch other people sell things.

Of course, that's a rather simplistic explanation. There's a sophisticated business behind it. But the underlying proposition is remarkably familiar.

Someone has something to sell. Someone else wants to buy it. And a conversation helps make the transaction happen.

It's almost as though we've reinvented the market stall.

Except this one is digital, operates at enormous scale and apparently attracts venture capitalists with very deep pockets.

And Whatnot wasn't the only business attracting investment.

Creator commerce platform ShopMy announced a $70 million funding round, taking its valuation to $1.5 billion.

Its proposition is built around connecting brands with creators whose audiences value their recommendations, taste and judgement.

Now, I find this fascinating.

For years, retailers have been investing enormous amounts in personalisation and trying to understand what makes someone buy.

Meanwhile, businesses built around good old-fashioned human recommendations are attracting billions in investment.

The knowledgeable salesperson. The friend who always knows where to find something. The person whose taste you trust.

These relationships have always influenced what we buy.

What's changing is the scale at which those relationships can operate.

There are questions, of course, about authenticity and commercial influence. A recommendation isn't necessarily impartial just because it comes from someone you like watching online.

But when it works, it works because there's a relationship.

People don't simply buy products. They buy into people, ideas and the confidence that they're making a good decision.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the future of commerce is how much it still resembles the past.

Too hot to shop. Only in Britain.

I couldn't write about the British summer without mentioning the weather could I?

July's heatwave apparently did more than give us something to complain about. It also kept shoppers away from the high street.

According to the British Retail Consortium, UK retail footfall fell 2.1% year on year in July, with high street visits down 3.8%.

London was particularly affected, with soaring temperatures making public transport and trips into the city rather less appealing.

Retail parks, meanwhile, managed a 1.2% increase.

Which got me thinking. We've spent years discussing the decline of the high street as though it's a single problem with a single solution.

Online shopping. Business rates. Empty shops. Changing consumer habits.

And yes, all of those things matter.

But the reasons people choose to visit somewhere are rather more complicated.

Convenience, accessibility, transport, parking, the weather, the shops themselves and, perhaps most importantly, whether there's actually something worth leaving the house for.

When temperatures eased in August, footfall improved, although it remained below the previous year's levels.

And there's a bigger question here. What makes a place worth visiting?

I've written before about the importance of community, social interaction and the role retail plays beyond simply selling products.

The high street has historically been somewhere people meet, browse, stop for coffee, run errands and occasionally bump into someone they know.

Those things don't appear on a sales report, but they're part of what makes a place valuable.

A high street filled with identical chains, empty units and little reason to linger is always going to struggle, whatever the weather.

And while retail parks may offer practical convenience, the high street needs to offer something different.

Perhaps we should spend less time asking how to bring shoppers back and more time asking what would make them want to come back.

Because footfall isn't simply about numbers. It's about giving people a reason to be there.

Is looking after ourselves becoming retail's next big business?

Another interesting development over the summer was the continued growth of consumer-facing healthcare.

In July, Neko Health, the preventative health business co-founded by Spotify's Daniel Ek, announced a $700 million funding round to support its expansion into the US.

The business offers detailed health assessments, including body scans and blood tests, with results reviewed by clinicians.

And demand appears to be substantial.

At the time of the announcement, Neko reported more than 350,000 people on its waiting list or registered for a scan, with over 100,000 customers having already used its services in the UK and Sweden.

That's quite something.

What's interesting to me is how much healthcare is beginning to resemble other consumer industries.

Choice, convenience, experience, access and personalisation are becoming increasingly important parts of the proposition.

We're seeing businesses borrow ideas from hospitality, retail and subscription services to change how people interact with healthcare.

And the market opportunity is enormous.

But I think this raises some interesting questions.

Is this about making preventative healthcare more accessible, or creating another premium service for people who can afford it?

Will consumers increasingly expect the same convenience from healthcare that they've come to expect from retail?

And what happens to the relationship between traditional healthcare providers and the businesses creating these new experiences?

There are also questions about the clinical value of widespread screening, the risk of unnecessary follow-up investigations and how consumers interpret the results.

Convenience and a polished customer experience don't automatically make something better healthcare.

But the growing demand for these services suggests there's a real appetite for taking a more active role in our own health.

And that feels like a significant shift.

We're becoming accustomed to businesses making everyday life easier. Perhaps we're starting to expect the same from looking after ourselves.

I suspect we'll see a lot more movement between retail, wellness and healthcare over the coming years.

So, what did summer really tell us?

Well, first of all, that it is entirely possible to write about retail without devoting half the article to artificial intelligence.

Who knew?

But beyond that, I think July and August reminded us of something that can get lost amid all the excitement about innovation and transformation.

Retail is still fundamentally about understanding people.

Consumers don't always behave as economic forecasts suggest. They prioritise, compromise and occasionally surprise everyone.

Businesses built around human relationships and recommendations are attracting extraordinary investment.

The high street still needs to give people a reason to visit.

And even healthcare is beginning to rethink how people experience services that have traditionally operated very differently from retail.

Different stories, certainly. But there's something connecting them.

People want businesses to understand what matters to them, not simply find new ways to sell them something.

Sometimes that's convenience. Sometimes it's trust, reassurance, value or a sense of connection.

And sometimes it's just finding somewhere pleasant to spend an afternoon when the British weather decides to cooperate.

As for AI?

It can come back in September. I suspect it'll have plenty to say for itself.