Research from Martec International finds that the UK's top 100 retailers are turning to outsourcing to improve the effectiveness of their IT budgets, which have remained static at 1.3% of sales for the past three years.

The report, based on interviews with the UK's top 100 retailers, found that nearly all are expanding their use of outsourcing, and 8% of the respondents had outsourced all their IT. They include Matalan (to Capgemini), Somerfield (to Tata Consulting Services), and DSG (to HCL Technologies).