Marks & Spencer equips all store managers and support centre staff with latest AI tech

Marks & Spencer is providing all of its store managers and support centre staff with the latest AI tools, including 11,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.

The generative AI and Agentic AI tools will “help with day-to-day tasks”, and M&S will also provide an AI training programme for all users to maximise its capabilities.

The new AI tech will help store managers turn data into clear highlights and trends in seconds. With their own AI assistant producing meeting notes, sales insights, rotas and shift handovers, they will have more time to serve customers and support their teams.

In the stores support centre, Microsoft 365 Copilot will draft meeting updates and trading summaries super-fast, while also turning complex reporting into recommendations and actions that will help M&S staff get closer to customers.

M&S CEO Stuart Machin said: “We’re already embedding AI across M&S - supporting stock forecasting and ordering, generating marketing materials and powering a colleague help hub with AI agents.

“Now, 11,000 colleagues will have AI support at their fingertips - pulling together summaries from multiple sources and giving them the data, analytics and insights they need in seconds.

“As we reshape M&S for growth, scaling the use of AI is central to our technology transformation and today's announcement is just one of the steps forward on that journey.”

Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK & Ireland, added: “It’s great to see M&S driving AI-powered transformation of the retail sector. By putting Copilot into the hands of the people closest to its customers, M&S is turning store data into clear actions and insights, enabling teams to spend more time delivering exceptional service to customers on the shop floor.”