Ann Summers

Ann Summers is a leading British retailer specialising in lingerie, adult toys, and intimate lifestyle products. Founded in 1970, the brand operates 75 stores across the UK alongside online shopping.
Ann Summers

The company has evolved from a traditional high-street retailer into a modern omnichannel brand, with its online platform playing a crucial role in driving growth and engaging new audiences.

The Challenge

Ann Summers wanted to improve in-store customer data capture rates to better understand customer behaviour and unlock greater long-term value from every customer interaction. The main challenges included:
  • Educating and empowering store teams to understand the true lifetime value of each customer beyond the initial transaction.
  • Demonstrating the commercial impact of every customer captured and the value this creates across the wider business.
  • Proving that in-store customer data capture supports, rather than detracts from, store performance by enabling future sales and customer engagement.
  • Increasing customer data capture rates so shoppers could be accurately recognised, matched to existing customer profiles or confidently identified as new customers.
The Challenge

The Solution

XCM deployed Horizon CDP to provide Ann Summers with clear visibility into existing customer data capture performance while identifying opportunities for future improvement. This included:
  • Robust data cleansing and enrichment processes.
  • Automated data quality flags at an individual customer level, allowing poor-quality data to be identified quickly and root causes investigated.
  • Automated reporting and insight dashboards within Horizon CDP, making customer intelligence accessible and easy to share across the business.
  • Performance reporting for store managers, regional managers and individual team members.
  • A clear, measurable view of customer capture improvements, enabling Ann Summers to track progress and demonstrate business impact over time.
The Solution

The Results

Following the rollout of Horizon CDP, Ann Summers achieved significant improvements in customer data capture performance.
  • 20.43% year-on-year increase in customer capture during the first month.
  • 11.46% average year-on-year improvement across the first quarter.
  • Customer capture rates now exceed 50% every month across the store estate.
  • Every newly captured customer delivers an average value of £10.50.
  • Generated £99.6k in incremental revenue within the first three months.
The Results

Project Perspectives

“Since enhancing our in-store data capture strategy, we’ve been able to understand customers on a completely new level. Not only has this improved the personalisation of our marketing, but it’s also driven stronger conversion, richer insights and a more seamless customer experience across every touchpoint.”
Laura Whittaker - Senior Online Trading & Marketing Manager, Ann Summers
“Horizon CDP has delivered clear, insight-rich reporting for Ann Summers, creating immediate value for internal teams across the business. At XCM, we focus on ensuring every insight and report drives tangible impact, and this customer data capture initiative was no exception. With data now accessible in a structured and insightful format, Ann Summers is well positioned to see continued performance improvements over time.”
Guy Swan - Client Strategy Director, XCM