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 ways in which it can drive online growth and enhance its 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 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, including the use of paid search to attract new customers.
M&S also hailed the success of its live shopping, which now attracts an average of 17 thousand 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 in a bid to both list and sell products at a faster speed.
With other features including personalised home pages 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.
This comes as Marks & Spencer’s active online customer total has now reached 9.4m and two out of three new clothing and home customers now start with shopping the brand online.
The retailer’s app also now accounts for 44% of its online orders, compared to 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.