As we reflect on the past year and look ahead to what’s next, one thing is clear: 2025 has been a powerful year of progress, learning, and alignment across Acosta Europe. We asked colleagues from across Acosta Europe to share their reflections on 2025 and their priorities for 2026. What follows is what our colleagues have to say, a collective view from across our businesses, services, and specialist teams. Their insights point to a powerful year of progress, learning, and alignment. From innovation in e-commerce and supply chain transformation, to in-store execution, sustainability, and investment in our people, 2025 has been about strengthening foundations and evolving how we create value for clients. Across every response, common themes emerge: collaboration, smarter and more connected ways of working, and a clear focus on delivering impact where it matters most. As we move into 2026, that shared reflection becomes action. With the combined strength of Acosta Europe and our leading brands, we’re ready to build on this momentum and deliver bigger wins for our clients across every channel, every touchpoint, and every market. Andy Buck (Managing Director, Reach): 2025 Highlights 2026 Focus Joe Peers, Head of Ecommerce at Dee Set: 2025 has been a pivotal year for e-commerce, with brands accelerating online strategies to meet rising consumer expectations. Global e-commerce is forecast to reach nearly $8 trillion by 2027, and new marketplaces like Tesco’s Marketplace alongside the rapid growth of social commerce, already surpassing $1.1 trillion globally in 2024, are reshaping the retail landscape. This fragmentation creates complexity: online fulfilment demands precision, advanced technology, and flexibility that traditional brand-owned warehouses often lack. As a result, outsourcing fulfilment to specialist partners will become a strategic priority for brands seeking scalability without operational risk. Our integrated order fulfilment solutions are designed to meet these challenges, offering small-order pick and pack, real-time inventory visibility, and seamless connectivity across marketplaces and social platforms. Looking ahead to 2026, marketing teams will increasingly focus on their digital shelf, optimising product content, availability, and pricing to win share-of-search and conversion. With digital shelf analytics projected to become a critical battleground for brand success. We provide services to support brands in achieving excellence at the digital shelf edge, ensuring they remain visible, competitive, and agile in an omnichannel world. Neil Latham, Imports Manager at Dee Set: 2025 was a year of momentum and innovation. Behind the scenes, we streamlined sourcing, supply chain, and technical services, boosting manufacturing efficiency. Our Haber range launched in Tesco Ireland, while NPD expanded into bold new categories, including umbrellas and electronic lighters. Meanwhile, our NIFTi Pet range hit record-breaking volumes, reinforcing its position as a customer favourite. 2026 promises even more. Amie Morrey (Head of Supply Chain, Dee Set) and Rich Plant (Head of Operations, Dee Set): 2025 Highlights 2026 Focus Lance Preston (Senior Business Unit Controller at Tactical Solutions): I have the privilege of leading the ISS (In-Store Sales) team at Tactical Solutions, and over the years, we’ve seen exceptional growth in both revenue and team scale. In 2025, we supported more than 100 brands across multiple retailers, navigating the complexity that brings while continuing to demonstrate our value in stores, for our clients, and for ourselves. Our TSMs and Management Team, working in partnership with Central Functions and our Client Team, have delivered at pace, driving efficiencies, adapting to new ways of working, and achieving record revenue weeks with minimal disruption. As we look ahead, 2026 is set to be our biggest year yet. We anticipate partnering with even more exciting brands, expanding our in-store presence, and strengthening our team further. Our topline goals remain clear: to delight our customers, to deliver consistent, high-quality execution, and to make a meaningful difference in every call. With our momentum, our capability, and our passion, the year ahead offers huge opportunity, and we’re ready to seize it Anne Unsworth (Head of Retail Operations Projects at Tactical Solutions): One of the standout moments was winning the Best First-Year Impact award at the 2025 Impact Awards for Tactical Solutions’ community sustainability efforts. Since launching, the team has planted over 12,000 trees, offset 208 metric tonnes of CO₂, and logged more than 21,000 volunteering hours on everyday sustainable tasks through the On-Hand app. Another major milestone was the introduction of a dedicated ESG Lead in June 2025, laying the foundation for stronger governance across the group. This move ensures that Environmental, Social, and Governance principles are embedded consistently across Dee Set, Reach, and Tactical Solutions. Finally, our progress toward Net Zero alignment, with the group committing to a clear pathway that will shape all future operational and technology initiatives through a low-carbon lens. 2026 Focus Areas Looking ahead, we’re focused on scaling sustainability initiatives to include the wider group and continuing to strengthen ESG governance through a newly established ESG Committee. This will ensure compliance and measurable performance across all businesses. Key priorities for 2026 include: Trudy Church (Head of People – Strategy , Acosta Europe): I joined the team in late July and was asked to help take two major projects over the line: our new HR and payroll system, and the applicant-tracking system. Both went live in November. I’m genuinely grateful my Peers and to my colleagues across HR, Finance and IT in Dee Set and Reach who supported me, filled in the gaps in my context, and kept things moving through some tough moments. This year also saw us work more closely as a wider Group, sharing skills and experience rather than duplicating effort. We successfully trialled the US Leadership Rotation Programme and the Managing Essentials Programme, and several of our leaders are now progressing through the Exec Programme. Watch out for opportunities to attend these programmes in 2026. In 2026 we’ll build on this by bringing our learning platforms, goal-setting tools and performance tracking into a more joined-up framework. Any new initiatives will be designed for the whole UK business from the outset. The HR team will continue to explore how AI and automation can take some of the admin off our desks, improve accuracy, and free us to spend more time on the conversations that really matter. Mark Ackland-Snow (Business Unit Director, Acosta Europe): In 2025, our focus was on retaining clients and enhancing their service propositions through the innovative models and tools introduced as part of the expanded Acosta Europe group. We delivered outstanding results, helping our clients achieve more while spending less. Looking ahead, 2026 is all about growth, demonstrating to both new and existing clients the value we can create across every channel. Our goal is to drive household penetration for their brands, whether through our cutting-edge D2C/D2B solutions or our dedicated brand ambassador teams. We are positioning ourselves as the ultimate end-to-end partner for brands seeking growth through flawless consumer execution. This year, we’ll continue to showcase Sales Force of the Future from Acosta Europe to new clients, ensuring more brands sell more in the most efficient way possible. 2026 is set to be an exciting year as we unleash the full power of the Acosta Group. Kate Bradshaw (Head of Business Unit, Acosta Europe): For 2026, we’re opening the door wider and giving more people than ever before the chance to take part in our annual recognition event - Spotlights. We’re celebrating our people, our progress, and the teams that make us unstoppable. This is about spotlighting talent from every part of our organisation and recognising the individuals who push us forward every day. In 2026 the event will be open to all our Acosta Europe colleagues - welcoming Dee Set & Tactical Solutions for the first time. Furthermore, we are expanding the guest list, not only creating a bigger event but also allowing our finalists to be surrounded by more of THEIR peers to support and cheer them through the process. Spotlights 2026 will be the place to be, and those who get involved by supporting, nominating and applying will all be in with a chance of being there this year! Joint HR (Sarah Jones, Dee Set and Trudy, Acosta Europe): 2025: A Year of Progress Looking Ahead to 2026 What’s on the Horizon for HR Looking ahead, the energy across Acosta Europe is unmistakable. The reflections shared here demonstrate a business that has learned, adapted, and strengthened throughout 2025, and is now poised to turn those learnings into meaningful action in 2026. Whether it’s accelerating digital transformation, enhancing in-store execution, expanding e-commerce capabilities, embedding sustainability, or investing in our people, we enter the year ahead with confidence and ambition. Most importantly, we do so together, united by a shared purpose and a belief in the value we can create for our clients. If your business aligns with these priorities in 2026, we’d love to talk. With the combined strength of Acosta Europe and our leading brands, we help clients navigate complexity, unlock growth, and deliver measurable impact across every channel. Get in touch to discover what bigger wins could look like for your business.
As I look back on 2025, I feel incredibly positive about the progress we’ve made in transforming our business. The further integration of Dee Set and Reach under the Acosta Europe banner has been a huge step forward. It’s allowed us to deliver levels of innovation, insight, and new services to our clients like never before, all helping them to ‘sell more, for less.’ That’s something I’m really proud of.
Looking ahead to 2026, I know the challenges aren’t going away. Rising costs and an ever-changing shopper landscape mean we have to stay sharp. That’s why my focus is on continuing to innovate and transform the field sales arena. By working with our best-in-class partners, I’m confident we can deliver even greater, game-changing solutions for our clients next year.”
We welcomed our new Business Development Manager (Neal) to our product team, bringing fresh energy to buyer engagement and introducing dynamic sales tools like our popular Suitcase Sample Boxes. We connected with 64 potential customers, opening exciting conversations for future growth.
We’ll continue growing our department, enhancing existing ranges, and exploring our tailored sourcing solutions offering. Expect a broader Haber range, innovative buyer boxes, and retail trials evolving into full-scale rollouts. Our NPD pipeline will explore fresh categories, while the Travels range undergoes a strategic rebrand for 2027.
This year, we delivered outstanding results for our partners. We helped a major retailer reduce shrink by 40% on SKUs we reworked, supported existing customers as they expanded into new retailers, and built and filled over 30,000 FSDUs. These displays enhanced supplier visibility, drove incremental sales, and supported promotional activity, creating real value across the board.
Looking ahead, our priority is a digital transformation within supply chain operations. We’re committed to leveraging technology to improve efficiency, transparency, and responsiveness through data-led decisions. Alongside this, we’ll focus on helping brands accelerate growth in the e-commerce space, ensuring they can thrive in an increasingly digital retail landscape.
This year we’ve made real headway in bringing our core people systems together. HR, payroll and recruitment now sit in one integrated set-up, which means fewer manual steps and better visibility for everyone. It’s not glamorous work, but it makes a big difference day to day.
Next year we’ll take another big step with a single platform for goal setting and performance tracking. That will give us a clearer line of sight on progress and development across the business. We’ll also be focusing on job architecture in the UK, getting consistency in roles and career paths so people can move and grow more easily. It’s about making internal mobility a reality, not just a buzzword.
Across the wider HR world, expect more emphasis on skills-based frameworks, ethical use of AI, and a sharper focus on employee wellbeing. These aren’t trends for the sake of it, they’re practical shifts that will shape how we attract, develop and retain talent.
