by Apparel Resources News-Desk 16-January-2024 |
Apparel retailer Marks & Spencer has embarked on a digital transformation journey by teaming up with o9 Solutions, a software platform provider. The collaboration aims to overhaul M&S’ Clothing using o9’s AI-powered Digital Brain platform.
This initiative is part of M&S’ strategy for sustainable growth, streamlining merchandise planning, sales stock and intake, and range planning into a cohesive, integrated platform.
The second phase of the program will witness the replacement and integration of M&S’ current forecasting and replenishment systems into the Digital Brain platform. Richard Price, Managing Director of Clothing & Home at M&S, stated, “As we reshape for growth, we are investing to modernise and upgrade our systems so we can create greater visibility and collaboration between teams and suppliers, improve planning and availability and enable us to be more tailored and localised with our ranging.”
The three-year roll-out of the platform is expected to make M&S’ clothing business more agile, enabling quicker responses to customer demands and emerging trends.
Chakri Gottemukkala, CEO of o9 Solutions, stated, “We are thrilled to be partnering with M&S on such a transformational project for the company. We have a unique opportunity to help an iconic brand jump into the future with our next-generation platform as it reshapes for growth.”.
In the fiscal year 2022/23, M&S’ Clothing division experienced significant growth, with sales up by 11.5 per cent and like-for-like sales increasing by 11.2 per cent. Last week, the retailer reported a 4.8 per cent increase in Clothing & Home sales during the Christmas trading period.