How Next plc turned its data and Total Platform into a growth engine
Next runs warehousing, websites and customer service for other brands through Total Platform, built on systems it develops in-house. Here is how the model works, what the numbers show and where AI now fits.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Summary by the editors
- Total Platform is Next plc's service that provides outsourced websites, warehousing, logistics and customer service to other fashion and home brands, usually combined with an equity stake in the client.
- In the year to January 2025, Total Platform clients' online sales reached £194.6m (up 31%), platform income £67.1m (up 28%) and profit from services £13.0m, according to Next's annual results.
- Clients have included Joules, MADE, JoJo Maman Bébé and FatFace, which moved onto the platform in September 2024.
- Next builds most of its core systems in-house and said in March 2025 it had started using AI tools to improve the productivity of software development; by September 2025 it said AI-assisted software work was gathering pace.
- FashionUnited reported in March 2026 that Next uses AI for sales forecasting, markdown price optimisation and software development support, and expects AI to change job roles rather than replace staff.
Next plc turned its own online infrastructure into a second business. Through Total Platform, the UK retailer runs websites, warehousing, logistics and customer service for other brands, usually taking an equity stake in them, and earns income from their online sales. The model rests on systems Next mostly builds in-house and on detailed customer data, and Next is now adding AI to forecasting, pricing and software development.
What is Next's Total Platform?
In its results for the year to January 2025, Next describes Total Platform as a service that provides outsourced warehousing, logistics, website infrastructure and customer service for online retailers. The company says the platform works largely as an M&A tool: Next typically takes an equity stake in its clients, which it compares to a venture capital fund that also brings operational benefits.
Named clients include Joules, MADE, JoJo Maman Bébé and FatFace, the last of which moved onto the platform in September 2024. Next lists three investment criteria: a strong brand and management, the ability to add value, and the right price. It has also said it plans a separate third-party online warehousing and logistics service with a minimum target return of 15%.
How big is Total Platform, and is it profitable?
The table summarises figures Next published in its annual results to January 2025 and its half-year results to July 2025.
| Measure | Year to Jan 2025 | Half year to Jul 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Client online sales (GTV) | £194.6m, up 31% | £101.1m, up 24% |
| Total Platform income | £67.1m, up 28% | £34.3m, up 23% |
| Profit from services | £13.0m, up 24% | £6.4m, up 76% |
| Profit as share of income | 19.4% | 18.5% |
| Combined Investments and Total Platform profit | £76.6m | £27.9m (full-year guidance £80m) |
Next attributes the first-half 2025 profit rise mainly to adding FatFace and to operational cost savings. The platform is small relative to the group, whose total sales reached £7,004m in the year to January 2026 according to FashionUnited, but it shows how internal capabilities can be sold to other brands while also creating investment returns.
How does Next use data across its business?
Next says its operations give it detailed insight into its customers. In the year to January 2025 it reported 8.6 million average active customers and 13.7 million customers who placed an order. In the first half of 2025, 10.3 million customers ordered, including 3.3 million on international Next websites, up 36%.
That data is applied with financial discipline. Next holds marketing to a return hurdle of £1.50 of incremental profit for every £1 spent and has named better measurement of incrementality, meaning how many sales advertising genuinely creates, as an objective. It also sells third-party brands: non-Next brands made up 42% of UK online sales in 2024/25.
- Customer data: order history and account data across UK and international sites inform marketing and range decisions.
- Operational data: warehousing, delivery and returns data from running its own and clients' operations.
- Marketing data: spend measured against incremental profit, with incrementality as a stated focus.
- Partner data: sales of third-party brands on Next's site and of Total Platform clients' sites.
Where does AI fit into Next's strategy?
Next has been cautious and specific about AI. In March 2025 it said technology spending had risen by nearly £100m a year over five years, that most core systems are built in-house and that it had started using AI tools to improve the productivity of its software development process, describing itself as at the start of its AI journey.
By September 2025, its half-year report said AI-assisted specification, development, deployment and maintenance of software was gathering pace and had further to go, and credited the increasing use of AI applications, alongside software modernisation and warehouse mechanisation, with accelerating platform innovation. In March 2026, FashionUnited reported that Next uses AI for sales forecasting, markdown price optimisation and software development support.
Why does building in-house matter for AI?
Next's emphasis on owning its software is relevant to AI in two ways. First, AI coding tools raise the productivity of an in-house engineering team, which is where Next reports its first gains. Second, forecasting and markdown models depend on clean, connected data across stock, sales and pricing; a retailer that controls its own systems can integrate such models more directly. The trade-off is cost: Next has spent heavily on technology for years and now aims to reduce technology costs as a share of sales.
Total Platform adds a further dimension. Because Next runs the websites and fulfilment of several brands on the same systems, improvements it makes for itself, whether in forecasting, warehouse operations or software delivery, can in principle be extended to its clients. Next has not published how, or whether, its AI tools are used on behalf of Total Platform clients, so this remains a structural advantage rather than a reported result.
What can other retailers and brands learn from Next?
Next's case is less about a single AI tool than about the foundations that make AI useful. Several lessons apply:
- Treat operational capabilities (websites, fulfilment, customer service) as assets that can serve partners, not only cost centres.
- Hold data-driven activity, such as marketing, to explicit return hurdles and measure incrementality.
- Start AI where returns are measurable and risk is contained, such as software development, forecasting and markdowns.
- Be candid about workforce effects and plan role changes rather than leaving them implicit.
For brands considering a platform partner like Total Platform, the model also carries trade-offs: dependence on a larger retailer's systems and, often, an equity relationship. The figures show the approach can be profitable for the operator; whether it suits a given brand depends on its own capabilities and appetite for that partnership.
Frequently asked questions
What is Next Total Platform?
Total Platform is a Next plc service that runs websites, warehousing, logistics and customer service for other retailers, usually with Next taking an equity stake. Clients have included Joules, MADE, JoJo Maman Bébé and FatFace.
How much does Total Platform make?
In the year to January 2025, Next reported Total Platform income of £67.1m and profit from services of £13.0m, on client online sales of £194.6m. In the half year to July 2025, profit from services was £6.4m.
Does Next plc use AI?
Yes. Next has said it uses AI tools to improve software development productivity, and FashionUnited reported in 2026 that it also uses AI for sales forecasting and markdown price optimisation.
Will AI replace jobs at Next?
Next has said AI could affect entry-level and deskwork jobs. According to FashionUnited, it expects AI to change job roles rather than replace staff, with routine tasks reduced through natural attrition.
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