Marks & Spencer is to spend £450m over three years
to revamp its supply chain and supporting IT systems, and aims to
generate £500m in sales from its website.
The news was revealed by M&S chief executive Stuart Rose
yesterday when he announced record sales for the British
retailer.
Rose said the firm spent £150m this year revamping its IT
systems; notably a new financial management system, its
e-commerce venture with Amazon, and
replacing tills and point of sale terminals,
some of which are nine years old.
Finance director Ian Dyson said this level of spending was a
significant step up for M&S and that he anticipates spending
similar sums for the next two or three years.
The IT spend will support M&S’s moves to open new stores in
the UK and overseas, to make its supply chain more efficient, and
to manage its stock better. This includes
new ordering systems for its distribution
centres and stores.
Rose said 65% of online customers bought from M&S Direct,
the firm’s digital shop, only once in 2006. He wants to convert
many more of M&S’s 27 million regular customers to online
shoppers.
He said sales at M&S Direct are already £180m a year, but he
has hired director of e-commerce, John Dixon, to drive them to
£500m as soon as possible.
Helping him in a non-executive director role will be
Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox, who will spend 15 days a
year at the firm.
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