How an app and AI have helped UK retailer Dunelm get to a position where it is no longer playing tech catch-up with the Church of England
When tracking digital transformation in the retail sector, it’s sometimes salutary to remind yourself that not everyone starts from the same position. Clodagh Moriarty, CEO of UK home furnishings firm Dunelm, illustrates this reality well when she observes:
The Church of England got to contactless before we did!
Started in 1979 as a market stall in Leicester, Dunelm runs around 180 physical stores across the UK alongside its online store, selling more than 100,000 products, including bedding, curtains, furniture, kitchenware, and lighting. But while the business has grown across the decades, it’s tech infrastructure hasn’t always kept up, Moriarty admits:
We're not massively proud that it took us until February 2026 to have a fully-functioning app for the market.
But there is an upside in a glass-half full sort of a way to having to play tech catch-up, she suggests:
The benefit is, you are then operating on the latest...
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