Marks & Spencer is ramping up its growth strategy with an “accelerated pace of change” across digital, data and tech as it uses AI and social media spending to attract younger shoppers.
As part of Marks & Spencer’s target of growing its clothing and home market share by 1% and operating margin by more than 10% by the 2028 full financial year, the retailer has outlined its plan to drive online growth and enhance personalisation for customers.
M&S said it is now spending as much of its budget on content for TikTok and YouTube as it does on TV adverts, with spending on social channels up by 79% year on year.
The retailer added that it is making “full use” of AI capabilities across its media partners, including Meta, YouTube and Google, as well as paid search to attract new customers.
M&S also hailed the success of its live shopping channel, which now attracts an average of 17,000 visitors per show and has generated more than £14m in participation revenue since it launched.
The retailer’s “online refresh” is also set to use generative AI to write 80% of Marks & Spencer’s product descriptions to both list and sell products at a faster speed.
With other features including personalised homepages for customers, personalised language, body shape, size and style quizzes to offer styling advice and in-house AI models to offer recommendations, M&S said this is just “the first step” in its journey to reshaping the brand for growth.
The news comes as Marks & Spencer’s active online customer total reaches 9.4 million. Two out of three of its new clothing and home customers now start shopping with the retailer online.
The M&S app also now accounts for 44% of its online orders, compared with 37% last year.
M&S said the shift in its thinking about online and omnichannel comes “just in time” for the launch of its 2024 autumn/winter campaign ‘Big Autumn Energy’, which launches today (September 5).
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