As digital experiences become more complex, staying relevant means understanding what customers need and making it easier for them to find it.
Ahead of The MarTech Summit London 2026, we spoke with Heana Thakur, Head of Marketing at Argos Marketplace, Sainsbury’s, about customer relevance, personalisation, digital commerce and how AI is changing the way customers discover brands and products.
About Sainsbury’s & Argos
Sainsbury’s is one of the UK’s leading retailers, serving millions of customers through its network of stores and digital platforms. Its portfolio includes Argos, a major UK general merchandise retailer offering products across technology, home, electricals, toys and other consumer categories. Through its physical and digital retail ecosystem, Sainsbury’s continues to invest in technology, data and digital capabilities to create more convenient and connected shopping experiences.
Quick Q&A with Heana Thakur
Could you please give us a quick introduction of yourself and share a bit about your role at Sainsbury’s?
I’m Heana Thakur, Head of Marketing at Argos Marketplace and my role is focused on building and growing a new marketplace for Argos which is the UK’s third most-visited retail website, reaching over 50 million visitors every month. My role sits at the intersection of customer needs, technology and commercial outcomes helping us use data and digital innovation to create experiences that are genuinely useful and relevant for our customers.
Why did you choose to participate in this summit?
The pace of change across marketing, technology and customer behaviour is incredibly exciting. I wanted to be part of the conversation, share some of what we’re learning at Sainsbury’s, but also hear different perspectives from brands tackling similar changes in the industry. These events are a great opportunity to challenge your thinking and bring new ideas back into the business
You’ve worked across Sainsbury’s, Argos and Habitat. What have you learned about maintaining a relevant customer experience when different brands, channels and customer expectations come together?
The biggest lesson for me is that customers don’t think in channels or organisational structures – they simply expect the experience to work. The brands can have very different propositions, but the relevance comes from understanding the customer, being consistent where it matters and adapting the experience to their context and purchase intent. We always put the customer first and aim to provide a seamless experience across every brand and format a customer uses.
In a marketplace environment, customers can be faced with enormous choice. How can brands and retailers use data and customer intent to make discovery easier without overwhelming the shopper?
More choice doesn’t necessarily mean a better experience. The opportunity with a marketplace is to use the additional data to understand more about our customers, what they are trying to achieve and then reduce noise around that. Good personalisation shouldn’t feel like more recommendations; it should feel like the retailer has understood what you need and has helped you get there faster.
Looking ahead, what change in digital commerce, search or customer behaviour do you think marketers should be preparing for now, rather than waiting until it becomes mainstream?
I think we’re moving customers from searching for answers to increasingly expecting technology to find, filter and recommend answers for them. AI is accelerating that shift at a rapid pace. Marketers need to think beyond traditional search rankings and start considering how their brands, products and content will be understood and surfaced by AI-powered discovery experiences.
Can you share one personal or professional goal you’d like to achieve in 2026?
Professionally, I’d like to turn more of the data and customer insight we have into action and not just better reporting so we can genuinely help our customers have more positive experiences with us.
Personally, I’d like to stay curious and keep learning, which is why The Martech Summit is important to me so I can reshape how I show up by networking and engaging with others. Outside of this, I do a lot of mentoring, especially for women in the industry & ethnic minorities; this is an area I’d love to focus more time on, and I welcome any opportunities to do this further!
As AI, data and digital commerce continue to reshape customer behaviour, creating relevant experiences will increasingly depend on understanding customer intent and turning insight into meaningful action.
Join Heana Thakur and fellow marketing leaders at The MarTech Summit London, 10–11 November 2026, as we explore what’s next for digital experience, customer engagement and MarTech.
The MarTech Summit London – Smarter Stacks. Stronger Growth.
The MarTech Summit London returns this November as Europe’s flagship MarTech event, bringing together over 600 senior marketing, customer experience, digital, data and technology leaders for two days of practical learning, meaningful networking and forward-looking discussions on the future of marketing technology.
Designed for practitioners rather than product pitches, this year’s summit features more than 90 speakers, 30+ leading solution providers, and over 33 sessions across three stages, covering everything from AI-powered marketing and customer intelligence to first-party data, marketing operations, customer experience and revenue growth.
Whether you’re modernising your MarTech stack, scaling AI adoption or improving marketing performance, The MarTech Summit London is designed to provide practical ideas you can take back to your organisation.
Hosted once again at Convene 155 Bishopsgate, this closed-door summit creates an environment where senior decision-makers can openly discuss challenges, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.
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Last updated: August 2026
