Marks & Spencer
is to spend up to £450m on IT in three years to support its
push into international market and online sales.
The investment forms part of a three year company-wide IT plan,
revealed in the company's
annual
report.
The three-year roadmap "sets out how our systems will deliver on
every aspect of our business plan, both within the UK and
internationally," said M&S. "This means, for example, that our
IT strategy for China, where we are only just establishing a
foothold, is already in place."
The strategy had helped M&S to develop faster and more
efficient IT systems throughout the business. M&S has made
"vital behind the scenes improvements" with the introduction of new
financial and back-office systems. These have improved operational
efficiency and also helped cut like-for-like IT running costs by
13.5%. he said.
M&S is a year into the
modernisation
of its 16,000-till electronic point-of-sale system supplied by
IBM. It is now adding more than 2,000 tills and 258 handheld
terminals in-store to make stock-checking easier and more
efficient.
Some 97% of its tills are fully operational, up from 90% two
years ago, M&S revealed.
The retailer's IT programme is part of an integrated plan to
develop a world class infrastructure, said M&S. "We're planning
to take more control of our logistics from source to store,
allowing us to monitor our stock more efficiently and improve
margins."
The firm plans to develop "a modern and streamlined logistics
network with new overseas warehouses, as well as offshore
stockholding and consolidation facilities" to replace warehousing
and distribution centres almost unchanged since the 1970s.
Although Rose expects the UK market to remain weak for up to two
years, M&S needs the new systems to support fast-growing
international and online sales.
International sales were up more than 16% last year to £713m,
almost 8% of the group's £9bn turnover. M&S Direct, its online
sales operation, which is hosted by Amazon, contributed sales of
around £300m, M&S Direct is growing at 70% a year, he said.
M&S uses Sap Financial Accounting and Controlling (SAP
FICO), and the Beanstore point of sale application from IBM
business partner PCMS. The retailer is currently recruiting staff
familiar with one or more of IBM Websphere Message Broker/Process
Server/ICS, BizTalk, Weblogic, and Netweaver XI.