Nearly 1 in 3 UK retailers still rely on custom-built integrations, despite mounting financial and operational pressure on tech teams, according to new research from Patchworks.
The ‘Retail Integration Report: Insights from the 2025/26 Patchworks Retail Tech Leaders Survey’ commissioned by commerce integration platform Patchworks and conducted by OnePoll among 200 UK retail decision makers, found that 31 per cent of retailers depend on bespoke integrations, while just 13 per cent have adopted an Integration Platform as a Service solution.
At a time when 60 per cent of retailers report financial losses due to poor integration and 14 per cent are losing more than £500k a year, the findings raise questions about whether traditional “build” approaches still make economic sense.
The report reveals that plug-ins, manual coding and custom development continue to dominate integration strategies, even as these approaches are described as slow, rigid and resource-heavy
Almost half (48 per cent) of retailers admit they rely on temporary workarounds during peak trading, and 31 per cent acknowledge direct revenue losses during busy periods due to poor integration
The pressure is intensifying. Retail CTOs are being asked to scale operations, improve customer experience and prepare for AI-driven commerce, all while reducing costs. Yet only 27 per cent of brands describe themselves as fully connected and scalable
Jim Herbert, CEO of Patchworks, said: “For years, building integrations in-house felt like control. In reality, it has locked many retailers into endless rebuild cycles. When 31 per cent are still relying on custom builds, it shows how hard it is to step away from legacy thinking. But the economics have shifted. Teams cannot afford to spend their best talent patching and re-patching connections between systems.”
The research shows that flexibility is now the top priority when choosing an integration approach, ranked ahead of long-term cost reduction
Retailers want platforms that can adapt as their stack evolves, not brittle point-to-point connections that break under pressure. Early adopters of iPaaS report faster integrations, leaner resource use and improved resilience during trading spikes.
As AI and Agentic Commerce move from theory to practice, Patchworks argues that integration is no longer a back-office IT concern but a board-level growth decision.
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