Bodycare is partnering with IT services provider PMC to deliver the digital infrastructure required to power its new store network, as it prepares to return to the UK high street.

The move is set to bring the cosmetic retailer’s vision of a “connected, immersive and AI-first store estate to life,” according to the business.   

It comes after Bodycare was bought out of administration by the former boss of The Body Shop in October.

The brand is now aiming to open 25 UK stores in 2026, growing to 200 locations over the next five years.  

Bodycare’s ambition is to become an “AI-first retailer,” as it seeks to build a “community-first bricks-and-mortar estate” which will “blend commerce and experiences seamlessly in-store”.

The company is aiming to run all of its store operations through a proprietary, custom-built AI-platform, which will see AI-decisioning powering staff actions. This will be served via data harvested from its stores.

Additionally, Bodycare is seeking to make each new shop a social content hub for local communities, generating hyper-localised content via staff, micro-influencers and customers.  

Each store will feature a dedicated content production studio. These will generate social content each week, with locally created content and user-generated content takeovers streaming live across each shop’s digital screens.  

PMC will support the end-to-end execution of Bodycare’s IT infrastructure, with a dedicated team of specialist digital architects from the IT services designing and implementing the retailer’s full tech stream.

The tech specialist will also power Bodycare’s point of sale systems via its graphene engage platform.

In addition, it will use its proprietary data integration solution, connect, to deliver a “robust orchestration layer” that “provides data ontology to the store alongside edge data flows that serve the retailer’s central AI engine”.

Bodycare managing director David Stern said: “Store experience, digital presence and community engagement – all underpinned by AI intelligence – will be central to Bodycare’s new vision, as we prepare to welcome customers back.

“PMC is not just a transformation partner that we can trust with delivery – their trusted experience is helping us re-imagine, design and create the AI-led strategy to bring our vision for Bodycare 2.0 to life.”

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