Marks & Spencer takes over the mantle of its online store from Amazon
A worker at Marks & Spencer’s e-commerce distribution centre in Castle Donington: The retailer has hired a creative and editorial team for its website. Photograph: Darren Staples/REUTERS
Marks & Spencer from its barrio has finally taken control of its online store from the digital stables of Amazon, bringing its high street outlets and website a step closer together, that is.
The retailer has gone ahead and hired a creative and editorial team of about 17 people, steered by former FT and Times fashion writer Nicola Copping, to produce daily magazine-style content for the site. Laura Wade-Gery, multi-channel and e-commerce director for M&S, alleged that shoppers were 24% more likely to buy from the website if they had viewed editorial content first. “That’s why we have put publishing and browsing at the heart of the site,” she held.
Shoppers will be able to get tips and advice on putting outfits together, watch video and close ups of individual pieces and see how M&S is construing the latest fashion penchants.
Conversely, M&S’s new site will not be supported by better services, such as same day delivery, until after June when the company’s new £900,000 sq. ft. distribution centre is up to speed. Wade-Gery maintained that it was not behind schedule.
Items ordered online for collection in store, in the meantime, will be delivered from the warehouse, even if that item is already on the shop floor. Granting the fact that it is more costly for M&S, the retailer’s outdated IT systems do not have an accurate enough picture of stock levels in stores to muddle through the demands of online shoppers. The system is due to be updated later this year.
