"These incidents involve the intentional use of deceptive or illegal practices to fraudulently obtain money, assets, or information from individuals or institutions, and include actions carried out over cyber channels."
ManoMano said it was informed that a customer service provider was hit by a cyberattack in January 2026 that led to 'the unauthorized download of personal data associated with your customer account.' The company said its investigation found that 'an illegal data extraction was carried out from the account of one of our subcontractor's agents.'
She said people "just couldn't believe" cars were being broken into just for the shelves. The Met Police opened an investigation following a number of parcel shelves being stolen from cars in Hampstead and Highgate, the force said. Sam Phipps Phipps told BBC Radio London her car was targeted despite only having her gym bag, out of sight, in the boot.
Surveys suggest customers want to use AI for shopping and to see AI tools from retailers. In a CI&T survey conducted in 2025, 58% of 1,040 U.S. consumers said retailers should use AI to improve the shopping experience, and almost 75% said they were already using AI tools at least occasionally in their path to purchase. In a separate survey from Gartner last March, 56% of millennials said they would be willing to let AI handle or assist with some of their shopping tasks.
The technology underpinning retail operations is under scrutiny in 2026 as fashion executives look to streamline systems with the aim to unlock efficiency, cut costs and meet consumer expectations for speed and personalisation in the shopping journey. At the retail event Lightspeed Edge on 12 January, Lightspeed - the unified point-of-sale (POS) and payments platform for SMEs such as Apricot Lane Boutique and Neal's Yard Remedies - convened industry leaders to explore the strategic imperative for integrated technology ecosystems over siloed systems.
If Q4 is the holiday shopping season, then Q1 might be the season of returns, or more specifically the season of return fraud. Retailers and ecommerce merchants are seeing a growing trend of returns and fulfillment scams that drain profit margins after big sales. This fraud was the impetus for Thursday's launch of Pinch AI, a startup that aims to mitigate such losses to fraud and marketing scams, with $5 million in venture backing.
After spending a large part of 2025 with its back to the wall, Target is intent on turning things around. The retail giant is heading into 2026 led by a new CEO who has ambitious plans, driven by a sharp focus on three areas: style and design, elevated customer experience, and better use of technology to improve speed and efficiency through the business.
